Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Eva is not one to meet expectations.

Sometimes it’s for vindication: if you don’t think I’m smart enough for university, I’ll graduate with honours. Sometimes it’s for the sake of trying something new: I don’t know if I’ll want to kiss this person twice, but I’ll at least do it once. Most of the time, it’s because at twenty-three, she really has no idea who the fuck she is yet.

However, she was voted Most Likely to be Cast on Reality TV in high school. But even that wasn’t quite right: they were thinking of something like The Bachelor, definitely not a game of strategy like this.

She likes to surprise people.

In a holding room in a Toronto hotel, she chats with her teammates/competitors before their first challenge. The producers gave them free reign to talk about anything, and it already feels like a trap.  

“Shouldn’t we take advantage of this time?” The first person to introduce themselves, Vilde, is also the first to try organize the group. Leaders have the most opportunity for sabotage. “Talk about our strengths and weaknesses so we can strategize for challenges?”

Vilde's smile is so bright, but it doesn’t have the warmth or sincerity Eva knows hers does. She comes off as open, easy to talk to—or, trustworthy. At least, until she throws people off by revealing things she shouldn’t reveal and doing things she shouldn’t do.

It’s the perfect way to be in this game. The more information she has, the more power she has to sabotage, and thus the more likely others are to believe that she is the mole. And the more people who guess that she’s the mole in the end, the less people she has to split the money with if she guesses correctly. She’d rather collect a small winner’s pot than only a fraction of a large one.

The mole’s probably not expecting their own game to be sabotaged. Eva’s strength is being unpredictably unpredictable.

Eva learned the other players’ names quickly when they all introduced themselves: Sana, Even, Sonja, Isak, Yousef, and Jonas. Their response to Vilde is her first impression of who they really are.

“Or,” Even says, leaning back in his chair. “We could let things happen organically.” There’s something in his eyes: charm or deceit, and he’s almost convincing enough to make Eva believe they’re not one in the same.

“No, ‘letting things happen organically’ is failing,” Sana says. Even shrugs as though he might not mind that. “I agree with Vilde.”

Vilde perks up. “Thank you. I’m thinking we go around and talk about education, our jobs—"

Sana holds her hand up to motion for Vilde to stop speaking. “We don’t have time for that. Who here is athletic?”

Isak and Sonja raise their hands, followed reluctantly by Vilde.

“Good memory?” Sana continues.

Sana raises her hand, as do Yousef and Jonas.

“Creative problem-solvers?”

Sana keeps her hand up as Eva raises her own, also joined by Sonja.

“So, what are you good at?” Sana asks Even, somewhat pointedly.

Even smirks. “Keeping things fun?”

“Oh, come on,” Isak says, rolling his eyes. “You can’t play the obvious suspect. Everyone knows it’s a red herring.”

It would be kind of brilliant for the culprit to appear as a red herring, though. This game is already doing Eva’s head in.

The door opens and they’re joined by their host, Mikael Øverlie Boukhal. Unlike other reality shows, he has a pretty casual relationship with the contestants, even occasionally joining them for meals. And, if production can be trusted, he also doesn’t know who the mole is.

“Have you all been getting to know each other?” Mikael asks, receiving murmurs of affirmation. “How do you do that knowing one of you is the mole?”

“It’s like every conversation has a double meaning, but you won’t know what it is until the end of the game,” Sonja says. “It’s stressful, for sure.”

“Does everyone feel that way?” Mikael asks.

“It’s not stressful if your only focus is succeeding in the challenges,” Vilde says. Isak laughs, halfheartedly covering it up with a series of coughs. “What?”

“Nothing,” he says. “You either signed up for the wrong show or know exactly what you’re doing.”

“I signed up for a show about teamwork,” Vilde says. “And I believe we can be incredibly successful, especially if we lose the negativity.”

“For what it’s worth, I agree,” Eva says, offering Vilde a reassuring smile. She returns it, grateful. “Seven of us are working for the same goal. Who cares about the eighth?”

“You might have a different perspective after you’re sabotaged,” Mikael says.

“Then we won’t let that happen,” Yousef says. “I’m with the girls.”

“I’m with them in spirit,” Sana says. “But I do think we need to be prepared than just believing in ourselves.”

“That’s what I was trying to do earlier—” Vilde starts, but Sana interrupts her.

“I know, and I got the information we’ll actually need.” She smiles. “Teamwork.”

“We’re about to see if you did, because it’s time for your first challenge,” Mikael says. “You may have noticed there are eight screens around the room. Each is going to display information about one of the players here. You’ll have fifteen minutes to memorize as much as you can, and then I’ll explain the rest. You may talk, but not about what’s on the screens. Your time starts now.”

Each screen displays a player’s job, favourite hobby, the age of their first kiss, and number of times they’ve been in love.

“Looks like we should’ve used my approach,” Vilde says.

“Looks like production fed you information,” Sana retorts.

Eva focuses on their screens first. Sana’s a student; her favourite hobby is, remarkably, studying; never been kissed; and never been in love. Vilde is an administrative assistant, her favourite hobby is running, her first kiss was at 14, and she’s been in love twice. It’s then Eva realizes she can group some people together. Sana and Isak are both students; Vilde, Jonas, and Yousef all claim to have been in love twice; and Even and Sonja are both baristas. Other stuff is just notably different. Even’s apparently been in love five times, though he can’t be much older than Eva herself. Yousef’s a sous chef. Jonas’s favourite hobby is skateboarding like he’s still sixteen years old.

When Mikael comes back, he instructs them to choose two people with a good memory, and one person whom they can trust.

“Who said they had a good memory?” Sonja asks. “Yousef and Sana?”

“And me,” Jonas says.

“My vote’s for Jonas and Yousef,” Isak says. “No fucking way I’m trusting Sana now.”

“I guarantee I know everything on those screens, but fine,” Sana says. “If you want to make this easy on the mole, by all means.”

“I elect Eva for the person we can trust,” Vilde says, and that’s her reward for aligning with one of the people trying to be a leader. It puts her in a position to influence the challenge. Whether they’re successful or not, it’s guaranteed to create subtle suspicions around her.

No one argues with her, and just like that, Eva, Jonas, and Yousef are the selected team. “I’m going to bring the three of you into a separate room,” Mikael says. “The rest of you will stay here. You can talk, but again, not about what you saw on the screens.”

In the other room, Mikael explains the challenge. “You’re going to answer a series of questions about what was on the screens. All of your answers will be numbers, which you’ll then plug into an equation to get a pin code. That code can be used at a designated ATM that you’ll need to find: it’s up to you to decide if you’ll all search for it, or if one or two if you will stay behind to help over the phone. You get two tries at the ATM, and with the correct code, you’ll withdraw 20 Canadian dollars. If you do that successfully, we’ll give you 50,000 NOK for the winner’s pot—pretty good exchange rate, right? And as a bonus, if you make it back here within the hour, we’ll put double that in the winner’s pot: 100,000 NOK. Does everyone understand?” When they all nod, Mikael says, “Ok. Your time starts now.”

It’s easy and quick at first, each of them answering questions like how many people had their first kiss at sixteen? and what’s the combined number of letters in Isak and Sonja’s favourite hobbies?

When they get to the equation, Jonas asks Mikael if they’re allowed calculators.

“Oh, forgot to mention that,” Mikael says. “No.”

Eva groans: she doesn’t remember how to multiply anything more complex than 12x12. “Then you should’ve asked who was good at math,” she says.

“There’s no guarantee any of the questions I ask will have any bearing on the challenges whatsoever,” Mikael says.

Jonas laughs, more out of disbelief than humour. “Man, fuck this game. I don’t even know what I’m doing here.”

That’s bullshit: you don’t sign up for a fucking reality TV show without a reason. Eva briefly wonders if he was tipped off about the no-calculator rule.

“I’m not saying I’m a genius, but I’m half decent at math,” Yousef says. “Give me some time and then we can all check it over.”

Like Eva can check over anyone’s math, and Jonas seems equally helpless. “Maybe we should go look for the ATM,” Eva says to Jonas. She’s definitely not letting him go alone.

“Putting a lot of trust in Yousef,” Mikael remarks.

“I’m not sure we have another choice,” Eva says. “Not like we’re going to be useful here.”

Jonas hesitates, but ultimately concedes. “Fuck it, you’re right. Let’s go. Yousef, we’ll call you when we get there for the code.”

“I will try not to fuck this up,” Yousef says.

In the hotel parking lot, Jonas and Eva are given bikes and maps to the ATM’s location. “They also didn’t ask who is good with directions,” Eva says. “I don’t even know how to get out of here.”

“Pretty sure we came in this way,” Jonas says, steering them to the right. Eva follows, but all they find is more hotel parking—and ultimately, a dead end.

“Off to a great start,” Eva says.

“You could try actually being helpful instead of just being the trustworthy person.”

Eva quirks her eyebrows, and Jonas does the same right back at her. “Seriously?”

“You can’t do math. You can’t read a map. You make other people do it and take the fall.”

Truly, doing anything will make people think you’re the mole, and doing nothing will make people think you’re the mole. She’ll suspect everyone by the end of day, as she’s sure Jonas will too. Her strategy of being unpredictable is the best option: as long as she keeps people guessing, she’ll stay in their minds as a prime suspect.

Eva speeds up so she’s riding in front of him. “Then let me lead the way and see how we do, asshole.”

“I'd love to." 

When they make out of the parking lot and into the city, Eva decides to forgo the map. Her strength is with people, so she finds a cute girl and flirts with her until the girl offers to show them the way. Even Jonas seems impressed.

“I underestimated you,” he says once they reach the ATM and the cute girl, sadly, leaves them alone. 

“I know,” Eva says as she calls Yousef, putting him on speakerphone.

“Hey,” Yousef says upon answering. “I’m really sorry, but I need like five more minutes. I’ll call you back? This is not easy.”

Eva exchanges a glance with Jonas. “Sure, but try to hurry. We’re at least fifteen minutes from the hotel.”

“Ok, ok, I’m on it.”

“He’s running down the clock,” Jonas says once Yousef hangs up.

Eva shakes her head. “I really don’t know. I couldn’t even attempt that problem. And isn't it kind of an obvious move to make on the first challenge?"

“Unless he wants to be seen as a red herring.”

It’s the same thing Eva thought about Even, but didn’t voice. She considers Jonas: he is quiet and perceptive. He could be a good person to share information with—or ideally, just to receive information from.

She wants people to believe she’s the mole, but not everyone. She is going to need help.

“What did you mean when you said you didn’t know why you’re on this show?” Eva asks. “You must’ve applied for a reason.”

“I just need money. I’m a fucking freelance journalist.”

“So it’s also important that you know how to read people.”

Jonas laughs, holding his hands up in surrender. “Yeah, ok. I might have some ulterior motives.”

He’s giving Eva enough honesty that she’s less suspicious of him now. Not fully trusting, she’s not stupid enough to fully trust anyone, but she’s not about to go through this game alone.

“Do you trust me now?” Eva asks. “I got us here, right? It’s just a shitty coincidence that I suck at math and navigation.”

Jonas shrugs. “Not yet, but I could.”

“We could keep Yousef stalling to ourselves: we know that makes him suspicious, but no one else needs to. And if we get information that other people are trying to keep to themselves in the future, we can tell each other.”

Jonas at least seems to be considering it. “Let’s get to the end of the challenge first.”

It’s more promising than a no.

Yousef calls them back after seven minutes. “You’ve got it?” Eva says when she answers.

“I hope so,” Yousef says. “Try 7521.”

Eva gestures for Jonas to do the honours, but he shakes his head and steps away from the ATM. “You want trust?” he mouths.

From Jonas, yes. Eva slides the cards into the ATM and enters the PIN: 7521.

And it works. She withdraws the 20 dollars and waves it at Jonas, who high-fives her.

“Yes!” she yells. “We got it! Yousef, you are awesome.”

“Just get back here,” Yousef says. “You’ve only got twenty minutes.”

“And whose fault is that?” Eva says after she hangs up.

“We’ll worry about him later,” Jonas says. “We need to fucking speed back.”

They do, with Eva leading the way again: she had enough sense to pay more attention to the directions the cute girl gave them than how nice she looked in her dress.

When they get back, Mikael and Yousef are waiting for them with unreadable expressions—until Mikael cracks a smile, and Yousef laughs like he’s only just been given permission to.

“Congratulations,” Mikael says. “You got back with two minutes to spare.”

It’s a flurry of hugs from there, and then they’re instructed to join the rest of the players in the holding room.

“Eva, Yousef, and Jonas have earned 100,000 NOK for the winner’s pot,” Mikael announces, and they’re met with cheers. “But you might want to halt your celebrations.”

For the first time, Eva legitimately feels nervous. She doesn’t want anything to jeopardize the potential coalition she has with Jonas.

“Before the challenge, I gave you specific instructions not to discuss anything you saw on the screens,” Mikael says. “What you didn’t know was that even as the film crew left this room for the other one, we had hidden cameras in here to monitor you.”

It’s reality TV—even if they can’t see cameras, they had to know they were there. Whoever broke the rule was deliberate in doing it.

“Let’s take a look,” Mikael says, gesturing to one of the screens. It starts as a conversation about who’s single, which as it turns out, is everyone. That was definitely planned by production.

“Ok, but how old are you?” Isak asks Even.

“Twenty-five.”

“How the fuck are you single now but have been in love so many times?”

 The screen turns off, and Isak turns red. “Fuck,” he says. “I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry.”

But really, they were given one rule. How hard is that?

“For that, we’re going to deduct a penalty of 25,000 NOK from the winner’s pot,” Mikael says. “I suggest you all be hyperaware of the rules in the future, because you know the mole is. On that note, you’re free for the rest of the night, but you’re not to leave the hotel, and you must be in your own room at midnight. If anyone breaks curfew, you’ll receive another penalty. I thought I was clear last time, so let me ask this time. Clear?”

“Isak?” Vilde asks.

“Crystal,” he answers.

As Mikael leaves, Jonas leans into Eva. “Isak’s my roommate. I’ll see what I can find out.”

Eva nods: she already has someone working for her. “That would be awesome. I’ll see what kind of traction I can make with the girls.”

“What about Yousef?”

“One suspect at a time.”

Jonas nods as they part ways.

Most call it an early night, except for Isak, Jonas, and Even, who go down to the hotel bar. Eva’s rooming with Vilde, who immediately gets her journal out before unpacking anything.

“Ok, I’m so curious about the challenge,” she says. “How were Jonas and Yousef? Anything strange happen?”

At this point, Eva truly does not believe Jonas is the mole. The only moment he fucked up was when they left the parking lot, which he would’ve known wasn’t significant enough of a mistake to actually cost them anything. He was honest with her once he trusted her, and he’s even volunteered to be a double agent.

Yousef, however, stalled. Yes, he gave them the right code in the end, but it would’ve been too obvious if he’d given them the wrong one. He didn’t try to make them lose the entire challenge, but he did try to make them lose money. How much difference could seven minutes have made? She doesn’t necessarily believe he’s the mole, but she at least doesn’t believe that he isn’t.

“Yousef saved our asses, but I’m super wary of Jonas,” Eva says. Vilde’s eyes go wide as she begins to write. “He kept leading us in the wrong direction, claimed he couldn’t do the math problem—I don’t know, it was weird. But oh my God, please don’t tell him I said that. He trusts me right now.

Vilde mimes zipping her lips. “I’ll let you know how my challenges go. Roommates should stick together.”

“Agreed.”

Vilde’s one less person she’s worried about splitting the pot with. Not only that, but after only the first round, Eva’s gained two allies.

As she goes to sleep, she considers it a successful first day.

Chapter Text

Isak has a problem.

When Even buys him a drink, Isak waits until he turns his back, then offers it to the first cute guy he sees instead. The guy tries to strike up a conversation, but Isak’s not interested in that. He needs to be alert: the game doesn’t stop once Mikael leaves them for the night.

And he is certainly that: he has noticed Even’s blue eyes, his long fingers, his lips that definitely know how to kiss someone. That he smiles like a villain, but there’s something behind it—Isak desperately wants there to be something behind it.

So yeah, he got curious, he wanted to know more about Even: is he a player or is he actually that good at falling in love? Especially when he acts like such a shit? Because if it’s the latter, Isak just has to know him. He loves to fall in love, almost as much as he loves to play.

He’s entirely sober, but he was during the challenge as well. Fuck if it’s doing him any good. He’s gone.

Watching Even chat up a group of strangers—like he’s done all night, the fucking charmer—Isak turns to Jonas and says, “If he’s the mole, he’s shit at it.”

“You think?” Jonas asks, chugging his own beer. “He’s kind of chaotic.”

“He’s trying to throw us off.”

Jonas hesitates. “I wasn’t in the room, so I don’t know—did he say anything to prompt you to talk about the screens?”

“We were all talking about being single. It just came up.”

Jonas doesn’t seem convinced, and Isak can’t even blame him. Not that it matters: Isak has no interest in forming a coalition, so he doesn’t need anyone to trust him.

It doesn’t hurt Isak for people to believe he’s the mole, but he’s not actively trying to throw them off either. He doesn’t want to distract himself with bluffing when his own strategy is simple: to observe and to analyze. He’s a scientist: that’s his strength, and that’s also why he doesn’t want need anyone else’s information. He’d never trust it, anyway.

The problem is that, thus far, his observation is that Even is hot, and his analysis is that he should kiss Even.

Fuck it. If he wants to win, he needs to get rid of his obstacles.

Isak approaches Even, but he doesn’t need to interrupt his conversation. Even’s attention is immediately on him, those fucking eyes, and that fucking smile—

“How’s it going?”

Even’s suave, cool and casual, fucking James Dean—until Isak puts his hand on his arm.

Isak smirks. He knows what he’s doing, especially when he steps in close enough to whisper in Even’s ear.

“Jonas will stay here for a bit. Come back to my room in the meantime.”

He notices the way Even’s breath hitches, but then he steps back, smile turning polite. What the fuck?

“You’re drunk.”

Isak scoffs. “You gave me one drink. And I didn’t even touch it.”

“We don’t want to miss curfew. Or make Jonas miss it.”

“All the sudden you care about breaking the rules?”

Even raises his eyebrows. “And you don’t? It’s already eleven.”

“It’s only eleven. I’m not planning on laying out fucking rose petals. We have time.”

“Ah, that’s a shame. I need romance.”

Isak rolls his eyes, frustrated: it’s not that he’s horny—well, it’s not only that. He just doesn’t want the distraction of wondering about Even anymore.

“But maybe,” Even starts, his voice a little more hopeful than Isak knows what to do with. “We could go outside and chat a bit?”

It’s better than awkwardly standing around sober. Isak nods, saying goodbye to Jonas before they leave. “What’s your plan here?” Jonas asks. “Keep your enemies close?”

Isak nods. “Something like that, yeah.”

There is no fucking way Jonas trusts him. Isak doesn’t exactly trust the way Jonas is already clinging on to him either.

Outside, Isak and Even find a bench in a designated smoking area. “You know,” Even says. “I feel like I’ve got a read on everyone in this game but you.”

“Wow, did you rehearse that bullshit?”

“I’m serious. Sana and Vilde are leaders. Sonja and Yousef are followers. Jonas and Eva are smarter than either of them will let on, and one of them is definitely the mole—my money’s on Eva, quite literally. And then there’s you. Why do you think I invited you out tonight?”

“To analyze me?”

“Mhm. And is that not why you said yes?”

“No. I did it to kiss you. I just need you out of my brain.”

Even laughs. “Didn’t realize I had that much power.”

“Bullshit. You know you do.”

Even shrugs. “Maybe.”

They’re quiet for a moment, until Even breaks it by saying, “I can’t believe you didn’t call my bluff.”

“What?”

“You don’t think I also invited you out to kiss you?”

“You literally just rejected me.”

“In front of Jonas? From going into your hotel room together? Yeah. We don’t need to complicate this game any further. Out here though, in private?”

Even quirks his eyebrows, and Isak’s confused.

So what if people see them together, it doesn’t fucking matter. They’re allowed to be suspicious. It’s practically encouraged. There’s a reason, there has to be, but Isak is not going to figure it out until he clears some room in his brain.

Isak’s the first to lean in, but Even’s the one to connect their lips. And yeah, that is good—better than Isak imagined, actually. Even’s as mischievous in his kissing as he is in his game—wandering hands, little bites, noises Isak’s going to memorize. It’s just fun, and the danger is Isak thinks he could go all night.

He breaks the kiss and checks Even’s watch: 11:11. “Please,” Even says, voice hoarse and somewhat desperate. “Tell me we’ve got time.”

Isak grins as he leans back in.

They have time, so they take it. Slow, exploratory kisses, but when Even declares they need variety, they mix in some quick, passionate ones. In the rare moments they’re not kissing, they’re laughing, because what the fuck are they doing?

“We’re on a reality show,” Isak says.

“I know.”

“Am I going to be the sixth person you fall in love with?”

“Wouldn’t that be nice?”

“Yeah, but I can’t trust you.”

Even smiles, sweeter now.  “You could trust in that.”

Isak stops his brain from believing this is anything other than a fantasy. He does not know Even at all, as fun as he may be to kiss. Besides, the whole point of kissing Even was to get him out of his mind—

That may have been an error in judgement.

They head inside with fifteen minutes to spare. “Alright, Cinderella,” Even says outside of Isak’s room. “Time to get you home before you lose your magic.”

It’s inevitable that Even will distract him. Isak’s best play is to do the same to him.

“I’ll still have it in the morning.”

Even grins.  “I have no doubt.”

Even gives Isak a quick kiss, leaving Isak’s heart beating a little faster than he’d like given the circumstances. When Isak enters his room, he finds Jonas is already there.

“You’re way too fucking obvious if you’re the mole,” Jonas says.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

Jonas points to the alarm clock on their nightstand: 12:07AM.

“No, we left the parking lot at quarter to. It doesn’t take twenty minutes to go up the elevator.”

Unless Even’s watch was wrong. That fuck.

“Fucking hell, maybe it is Even.” Isak says, then explains to Jonas that he used Even’s watch. Jonas still does not seem particularly convinced.

“Whatever, we have another challenge tomorrow. Let’s just see how that goes.”

Isak’s happy to have a game-related reason to pay attention to Even.

---

At breakfast, the players are instructed to remain silent until Mikael joins them. It does not stop Isak and Even from having a conversation in raised eyebrows: did you fuck us over last night?

When Mikael does join them, he’s casual, asking how everyone slept, if they’re nervous about the upcoming challenge, who they’re already suspicious of. The consensus is that they were all exhausted enough to sleep, they’re always nervous, and everyone has done something questionable at this point.

Eva, who is sitting beside Isak, reaches over and puts her hand on his bouncing knee. “Shit, how much coffee did you have?” she asks.

“Maybe too much,” Isak says, laughing it off.

Mikael catches the interaction. “Isak, nervous?”

Isak shakes his head: cool, calm, and collected, entirely in his own mind. “I’m fine.”

“Maybe you’re overtired. Late night, right?”

Mikael raises a single eyebrow because reality TV hosts are capable of that, and Isak rolls his eyes. “You’re going to make me say it?”

Mikael nods, gesturing for Isak to go on.

“Even and I broke curfew last night.” At everyone’s groans, Isak continues, “But Even’s watch was slow, so how do you think that happened?”

“People were in and out of my room before I went down to the bar,” Even says, actually cool, calm, and collected. “I didn’t put my watch on until right before I left.”

“Convenient.”

“It could’ve been anyone. Fuck, it could’ve been you.”

“You think I changed your watch while you were wearing it?”

“I seem to remember you coming to my room, asking when I’d come down. What was the point of that? You knew I was on my way.”

Isak flushes. He just wanted to make sure Even was coming, that’s all. The whole point of the night was to kiss him.

Without Isak’s rebuttal, Mikael jumps in. “Even, you said other people were in your room. Care to name names?”

“It was basically everyone. Yousef, obviously. Sana and Sonja for a bit, and then Eva and Vilde came by for a second to say goodnight.”

“Everyone but Jonas?”

“Yeah, he was already in the bar with Isak. And then Isak came to my room even though he was waiting for me.”

“Because I was waiting for you. You’re not exactly punctual.”

“Clearly,” Vilde says, sharp. “Mikael, what is the point of this conversation? How much money did we lose?”

“It’s always 25,000 NOK for breaking the rules, bring your pot down to 50,000 NOK. The good news is you’ll have the chance to earn up to 200,000 NOK today. First, you’ll need to elect four leaders and four followers.”

“Sana and Vilde for leaders, right?” Eva says. “Who else?”

“What about you?” Jonas suggests. “You led us in the first challenge.”

Eva seems surprised, but not put off by the idea. “If everyone’s cool with that?”

No one argues, and that’s as good as agreement.

“What about Sonja?” Even offers, and Isak can only assume it’s to take any attention off himself. He literally called her a follower last night.

“All women,” Eva says.

“As it should be,” Sonja says. “Sure. I’m in.”

“Then the rest of you are followers,” Mikael says. “Are you all comfortable with that title?”

“We’re operating under a false dichotomy,” Jonas says. “So, yes.”

“Does anyone ever tell you that you’re exhausting?” Mikael asks.

“Does anyone ever tell you that?” Jonas retorts.

Mikael shrugs, point taken. “Alright. Leaders, you each need to choose a follower.”

“I’ll take Yousef,” Eva says, which Isak predicted. They worked together well on the last challenge, and though they were ultimately successful, Jonas said he and Eva didn’t really click.

“Even,” Sonja says, which is a little surprising. He assumed Yousef and Jonas would be the top picks since they had a successful challenge, whereas he and Even broke the rules—twice. But then again, maybe she just wants to keep an eye on him.

“I want Isak,” Sana says. Isak can tell it’s as much a relief to Vilde as it is to him that they’re not partnered together, but Sana? He believes her intention is different than Sonja’s: if she’s the mole, it will be all to easy to blame any mishaps on him.

Mikael explains the challenge: through an earpiece, the leaders will navigate the followers through a corn maze. In the corn maze, there are two guards. Each team that completes the maze within three minutes, without getting tagged by a guard, wins 50,000 NOK for the winner’s pot.

They travel to the challenge in their teams, giving Sana and Isak some awkward alone time. He’s really fine with it, but Sana decides to break it.

“I know you’re not the mole,” she says.

“Ok?”

“You’d be an idiot to do everything everyone thinks you’re doing. And I don’t think production would hire an idiot.”

Isak is not enjoying this conversation.

“So if your game is to put all the suspicion on yourself,” Sana continues. “Not only is it not working, but you’re actively losing us money.”

Isak shakes his head. “I’m trying to stay under the radar. Just watch what’s happening around me.”

“That is not going well.”

“Yeah, no shit.”

Sana hums. “What are you studying again?”

“Like you don’t have it written down in your notebook.” He knows because he has her field recorded in his: molecular biology.

Sana’s steady expression cracks for just a second, but she quickly composes herself. “Ok then: it’s biophysics. I’m assuming we’ll have a similar approach to the game. No one trusts you, and no one trusts me after the first conversation.”

 “You want to borrow my notes?”

“It’ll be a mutual exchange.” At Isak’s hesitance, she continues, “I’ll go first. Don’t you think it’s odd that Jonas was with you at the bar, but never warned you about the time?”

Isak does not volunteer that he was in the parking lot while Jonas was in the bar. “We weren’t exactly sticking together. I don’t know when he left.”

“So he didn’t check in on you?”

“We don’t need a fucking babysitter.”

Sana raises her eyebrows at that. “The evidence suggests otherwise.”

“It still doesn’t explain what happened with Even’s watch.”

“Maybe he had a partner: someone trying to put suspicion on themselves, someone who had  incentive from production, you never know." 

It’s just a bit too much of a conspiracy theory for Isak to buy, especially coming from Sana. He never wanted to a form a coalition, and that hasn’t changed.

However.

Despite Isak’s intention of being an observer, he’s been known to lie, and he’s been known to lie well. His trick is being creative, and he’s a little insulted that anyone would think he’d use as basic of a strategy as trying to make himself suspicious by blatantly breaking the rules.

Of everyone, Sana’s one of the players he trusts the least. So sure, he’ll give her notes: they just won’t be real. His plan is essentially to confuse her until she exposes herself. If she’s questioning what he’s writing, she could slip up. And if she’s not the mole, he won’t be helping her identify them.

“If you don’t fuck me over in this challenge,” Isak says. “I’m on board.”

“I picked you for this because I wanted to talk to you,” Sana says. “But also because I know I can make up for your inevitable incompetence. We’ll be fine.”

“Thanks for the encouragement.”

At the challenge, Mikael explains that all of the leaders will be together as they navigate their partners through the maze, using a map on a screen that also indicates the guards’ positions. Isak had assumed the leaders would have more opportunity for sabotage, but it’s actually the followers as they’ll go through it one at a time.

Eva and Yousef are up first, and it’s a successful run. There’s not much fanfare, but it does set a precedent: this is possible, so if you fail, it’s because someone fucked up.

Sonja and Even are next, and Even comes out of the maze shaking his head.

“You lost?” Yousef asks.

“Sonja led me right into one of the guards,” Even says. “So she’s either shit at this, or there’s always option two.”

It’s Isak’s turn next. A P.A. fits him with an earpiece, then he enters the maze. “Isak, can you hear me?” Sana asks.

“Copy,” Isak says, mainly because it’s a fun thing to say.

Sana’s directions are rapid, interspersed with helpful feedback like, “Go faster!” and “Be quiet!” It’s annoying but effective—until Isak’s earpiece cuts out.

“Sana?” he says, keeping his voice down to not give away his position. “Sana, I can’t hear.”

Nothing. For fuck’s sake, it’s not fair that production can help the mole by handing out faulty equipment. With determination fueled by spite, Isak listens for the guards’ footsteps. He can hear them, he can even catch glimpses of their feet and legs, but he doesn’t know the maze well enough to know if they can get to him.

So, he employs the best strategy he can think of: run like hell.

He hits dead end after dead end, allowing a guard to get behind him. Isak picks up his own pace: if he can outrun the guards and not get cornered, he can do this. The noise of the maze almost drowns out his earpiece cutting back in.

“Isak? Isak, do you copy?”

The last thing he wants is to give away his position to the other guard and get trapped, so he ignores Sana and continues to run. After making a sharp right, he finds himself at an exit.

Fuck. He actually did it.

Mikael comes to get him, bringing him back to the rest of the followers. “Isak, your time was 2:21,” he says, clapping his shoulder. “Congratulations: you and Sana have won 50,000 for the pot.”

He gets high-fives from everyone but Even, who is eyeing him. “What?” Isak asks, breathless. 

“Nothing,” Even says. “Just surprised.”

Isak rolls his eyes. “The mole tried to screw me over too. My earpiece cut out.”

“For the entire time?” Jonas asks.

Isak hesitates. He won, so it shouldn’t matter, but Sana won’t be impressed to learn he ignored her in the end. He doesn’t want to lose his, admittedly fake, coalition with her. “Yeah, it was fucked. Good luck in there.”

Jonas ends up being unsuccessful, but only because he runs out of time. When the leaders join them, the congratulations for Yousef and Isak are quick, then the accusations begin.

“You didn’t listen to me,” Sonja says to Even. “I told you to turn around and you didn’t.”

“I could hear a guard behind me,” Even says.

“But they couldn’t get to you! I knew there was one that could corner you, and you ran straight to them.”

That is…different than Even’s original story. Isak takes note.

“What happened to you in the maze?” Eva asks Jonas, but Vilde decides to answer.

“He was too slow,” she says. “He wouldn’t run!”

“What the fuck, that’s not what happened,” Jonas says. “I wasn’t running because you weren’t telling me where to go. You took thirty seconds to give me a single direction.”

“I was trying to be precise so you wouldn’t run into a guard.”

“Well, congratulations,” Jonas says. “You did it.”

“Isak, you had technical difficulties and still completed the maze,” Mikael says. “What do you make of the teams who couldn’t do it?”

“Some of it’s luck,” Isak says. “It could be the mole, for sure, but maybe they thought fucking with my equipment would be enough sabotage for one challenge.”

“I guess you proved them wrong,” Mikael says. “In any case, you’ve earned 100,00 for the pot today, bringing your total to 150,000. Well done. For tonight, the same rules apply: you have free reign of the hotel, but you must be in your room by midnight. I suggest checking your watch before you leave.”

“Nice work today,” Sana says when they’re travelling back to the hotel.

“You too,” Isak says. “I wouldn’t have gotten out without your directions in the beginning.”

Sana seems pleased with that. She thinks they’re solid.

“Everyone’s going to want to hang out after what happened last night,” Sana says, and the implication is clear: to keep an eye on each other. “But maybe we can compare notes in-between breakfast and the challenge tomorrow.”

Isak has some bullshitting to do tonight. “Sure.”

Sana’s right: everyone ends up in Eva and Vilde’s room, just chatting. Eventually, Even catches Isak’s eyes, nodding towards the hallway.

“We can’t be gone for too long,” Even whispers once they’re outside the door. “But, my room is empty right now.”

Well. Isak was very focused in the challenge, probably because he kissed Even and therefore could think about other things. Thus, if he kisses Even again, or perhaps does more than that, it’s only logical he’ll be even more focused tomorrow. It’s a little strange that Even’s suddenly cool with them being seen together, but maybe it's because it's not exactly a secret that they were together last night. Besides, that never concerned Isak. If Sana questions it, Isak can always tell her he was just getting information.

So, Isak follows Even into his room.

Chapter Text

Sonja is pragmatic, but that’s not the word others use.

Rigid, stubborn, strong in her convictions—that last one is from her mom. But she is smart, and thorough, so why shouldn’t she trust in her own conclusions if she’s right?

Unfortunately, she’s also a bit of a stereotype: the uptight girl who gets charmed by the free-spirited boy. She them because, contrary to what her best friend says, she does not actually hate fun: she’s just not very good at creating it for herself. And usually, those boys like her back: they enjoy being the charmer—at least until she calls them on their bullshit. If they’re one of the good ones, they’ll suggest their lifestyles clash, and Sonja will agree. If they’re a dick, they’ll tell her and the entire world that she’s a bitch.

Once Sonja understood that about herself, she stopped dating those boys. It was all too obvious, and all too frustrating. But, she’s still drawn to them, intrigued by them, even attracted to them.

Enter Even.

They get each other. Even’s commented that Sonja reminds him of his ex, and she said the same back to him. In other universe, they could’ve been together, and it would’ve been a predictable disaster.

It’s better for them to meet now, each with more self-awareness than they had as teenagers. They’ve become fast friends, and more importantly for the game, allies.

After a quiet breakfast without an appearance from Mikael, they meet in Sonja’s room. Sana’s disappeared for a walk around the hotel, which has to be a cover, but Sonja wasn’t about to call her out on it when she needed a cover of her own.

“So,” Sonja says once the door is closed behind them. They’re sitting on her bed together. “Did you and Isak hook-up last night?”

She’s not interested in wasting time.

“Define hook-up.” Sonja does not, but Even continues anyway. “We didn’t. We made-out, we definitely did that, but we actually talked for a long time.”

“How romantic.”

Even is almost blushing. “It kind of was? I don’t know. I like him.”

“And you haven’t considered that he might be using you?”

“So what if he is? Aren’t we all using each other here?”

Sonja shrugs: he’s not wrong.  

“Anyway,” Even says, leaning back so his head’s resting on the pillow. “Nice acting yesterday in the maze. I’ll cast you in my first film: we’ll both get Oscars, guaranteed.”

As a coalition, one of their goals is to make everyone believe Even is the mole. Given his personality, it’s instinctual for people to think it’s him, so they’re using that to their advantage. Since the challenge gave them the chance to earn 200,00, they decided losing 50,000 was worth putting more suspicion on Even while also diverting any suspicion that they might be working together.

“Thank you, but we should dial it back now,” Sonja says. “If you were the mole, you’re the obvious suspect, so you’d lay low now.”

“I agree,” Even says. “We need to focus on figuring out who the mole actually is now.”

“It’s got to be whoever changed your watch.”

“I wish we’d thought of that before they did. It’s clever.”

Sonja shakes her head. “This is better: it gives us suspects. Let’s walk through everyone. Jonas wasn’t in your room, so he’s out. Isak, however, made a point of coming to your room.”

“Yeah, but he really only talked to me and then left. I don’t know when he would have had the chance.”

Sonja raises her eyebrows. “That’s not what you thought yesterday.”

“I know, but I’ve had more time to reflect—”

“And to kiss him?”

“It’s a gut feeling. It’s not him.”

 “You can’t trust your gut in a game of logic.”

“You can’t trust logic when everyone has a different strategy.”

Sonja sighs. He’s not wrong, but she wishes he was. “Let’s focus on the facts we have. Yousef clearly had the most opportunity.”

“True, but he’d also know that because of that, he’d be the most likely suspect. Eva and Vilde, however—”

“They were barely in here.”

“Exactly, but they made the rounds, saying goodnight to everyone. They would’ve had a chance, and they knew they could get away with it."

“And Vilde messed up in the challenge yesterday. I was in the room with her: that was entirely her fault, not Jonas’s.”

“Isak says that Jonas doesn’t trust Eva either.”

“Given how reliable that information is compared to what we know to be true, I’m more inclined to suspect Vilde.”

“Great, and my gut is telling me it’s Eva. I’ll keep an eye on her, and you keep an eye on Vilde.” Even grins. “This is what makes us a great team.”

He’s right: they complement each other. Sonja does occasionally worry that Even’s the mole and she’s an accomplice in his sabotage, but she can’t imagine he’d agree to have all the suspicion put on him if that were the case. It just wouldn’t be logical—though, he’s reminded her not to count on that.

If he is the mole, he’ll slip up in front of her eventually. They’re too close for him not to.

“I should go before Sana comes back,” Even says.

“You just want to find Isak.”

He smiles, caught. “See, you already know me so well.”

Besides all of the rational reasons Sonja has created for trusting Even, the truth is that she just does. It’s that gut feeling he goes on about: he makes her want to listen to it.

---

It’s mid-afternoon before they’re instructed to meet in the lobby for their next challenge. “Today, you’ll be split into two teams,” Mikael says. “For the first team, I need four people who know how to get what they want from people.”

“That’s me,” Sana says, stepping forward. “Along with Sonja and Yousef.”

“Me?” Sonja and Yousef ask simultaneously.

Sana nods. “Sonja, people trust you because you’re organized and prepared. You’re a good leader.”

“Ah, yes,” Even says. “She was excellent at leading me to failure in the maze.”

Sana ignores him. “And everyone likes Yousef because he’s friendly, so. These are obvious choices.”

No one is keen to argue with her obvious choices, but Mikael reminds them, “You still need a fourth.”

Sonja is thinking of Even or Eva, another friendly, charming presence, but Vilde steps in with, “Shouldn’t I also be an obvious choice? I, personally, believe I am more of a leader than Sana or Sonja.” She pauses to smile at Sonja, but not Sana. “No offence.”

“None taken,” Sonja says.

“Three leaders and a Yousef,” Mikael says. “I see no way this will go wrong.”

But Isak, Even, Eva, and Jonas seem happy enough to be together, whatever they’re doing, so the teams are set. Sonja’s glad to be separated from Even: she can get information about the other challenge later on.

Mikael takes Sonja’s team aside first. “Now, maybe I should have asked you who likes to cook,” he says. It’s the first time Sonja sees Sana nervous. “Because today, your challenge is to make pizzas for dinner. We’ve even given you a recipe. The only thing we haven’t given you are ingredients.”

“We have to go shopping?” Vilde asks. “That’s not too hard.”

“It’s not, which is why instead, you need to go begging. You need to get ingredients from people in the community, but you can only get one item per household. You’ll also need to find an oven to cook the pizzas in. You have four hours, at which point you’ll need to meet me and the rest of players at a community centre. Understood?” At their nods, Mikael says, “Alright, this task is worth 50,000. Here’s a map, and good luck.”

Sana takes the map as Vilde reaches for it. “We should split up,” she says. “Divide and conquer.”

“Absolutely not,” Vilde says. “Have you never seen a horror movie?”

“This is Canada, Vilde. I think we’ll be fine.”

“We only have one map. We’ll get lost.”

“It says there’s a library just around the corner,” Yousef says, glancing at the map over Sana’s shoulder. “We’ll get them to make a copy or give us another one.”

Sana smiles at him. It’s the first time Sonja’s seen that, too.

“But how will we know which house we’re cooking in?” Vilde asks.

“Let’s just plan to meet back here in two hours,” Sana says. “Whatever we don’t have, we’ll get together, then we’ll find a kitchen.”

“What’s the point of splitting up then?”

“We’ll cover more ground. Why are you fighting this so much?”

“Because I want to win 50,000?”

“For yourself, sure, but you don’t want it for the winner’s pot.”

“Ok, ok,” Yousef says. “Right now, we’re on the same team, so let’s try to work this out quickly. I agree with Sana. Sonja?”

“Me too.” She’d disagree if it were only her, Yousef, and Sana participating in the challenge, but really, it’s Sana and Vilde’s bickering that’s costing them time. It’s just easier to split them up now.

“Then it’s decided,” Sana says.

They stick together until the library, where they make copies of the map and ingredients list. Sana and Yousef team up to get the first half of the list, while Sonja is stuck with Vilde to get everything else.

“That detour cost us fifteen minutes,” Vilde says.

Technically, ten: the other five was the argument. Sonja decides not to argue specifics.

“This is a bad idea,” Vilde continues. “What if we end up at the houses that have ingredients on their list, but not on ours? This is not efficient.”

“Maybe not,” Sonja says. “But let’s try to make the best of it.”

“I know you and Sana are working together.”

Sonja stops in her tracks. “What?”

“You’re roommates. You didn’t defend me even though you knew I had the better idea.”

“I honestly didn’t know what the better idea was.”

Vilde narrows her eyes, and Sonja rolls her eyes. “Mhm.”

If Vilde’s the mole, her strategy seems to be to annoy everyone until it’s impossible to work with her. And it would be an effective one, but it does make Sonja wonder. The mole would not be this committed to their own plans, so convinced of them: it’s too obvious.

Maybe Vilde just needs control. Maybe Vilde is, actually, a lot like her, but does not know how to tone it down for the game the way Sonja does.

“I’m sorry I didn’t stand up for you,” Sonja says. “But if Sana is trying to sabotage us, we can’t let her. We need to put on a good face for these houses.”

“We need to flirt,” Vilde says, so matter-of-fact it’s almost startling. “Are you willing to do that?”

Sonja smiles: this is where she draws on her experience with free-spirited boys. Funny how they’re always called the charming ones, as she’s the one they always wanted to charm. “Of course.”

They do well, collecting all seven of their ingredients with time to spare. They use it to find a kitchen, where the homeowner agrees they can come back to cook once they’re ready. Most people they are encountered were just excited to be on TV, even on an obscure Norwegian reality show.

And still, Sonja and Vilde reach the meeting spot fifteen minutes early.

“We’re wasting time,” Vilde says.

She’s right, and Sana’s now on Sonja’s radar. Sana’s been perfectly nice and quiet as a roommate, which is what Sonja wanted—but now she understands why Sana might not have wanted to get too close.

When Sana and Yousef do join them, they also have all their ingredients. Vilde goes on about how inefficient this was, but Sana interrupts her.

“If I was trying to sabotage you, I clearly failed, so why does it matter?” Sana asks.

“I don’t believe you were trying to sabotage us,” Vilde says. “But I do believe you had a bad idea. All I want is for you to acknowledge that mine was better.”

“Ok.”

“Ok, you agree?”

“Ok. You’re entitled to want that.”

They go back to the kitchen Sonja and Vilde found. The homeowner’s a young, pretty girl that Vilde flirted with when they first met, and continues to flirt with as they cook. Or, while Sonja and Yousef cook: Vilde is distracted, and Sana is…incompetent.

“Can I help you with that?” Yousef says as Sana stares at an onion, knife in hand.

“I can dice an onion.”

“Awesome. Can you peel it?”

Sana stares at him. “What?”

“We should probably peel it before you dice it. Here, let me help.”

Sonja watches them as she preps her own vegetables: a lot of laughing, a lot of teasing, a lot of expressions she’s never seen from Sana before.

“How are you not crying while doing this?” Yousef asks as he dices.

“Guess I’m tougher than you,” Sana says.

“Or you’ve got me doing all the work for you. Brilliant strategy.”

“Unless you’re the mole and I’m just giving you more power to screw us over.”

“I was going to say I don’t know how I could sabotage us by dicing an onion, but once I saw your technique—”

“Hey!”

“Sorry, sorry: that was uncalled for. But I’m onto you, Sana. You’re robbing us one vegetable at a time.”

Maybe Yousef is right.

With twenty minutes to get to the community centre, they get their pizzas. Vilde gets a phone number, which appeases her on the walk back. Sana and Yousef are occupied with each other, leaving Sonja alone.

Sonja is good at operating on her own: everyone else is too overwhelmed by her ideas, her plans, herself. And she never minds it, not really, until she does.

She hopes Even isn’t too distracted by Isak to talk tonight. She just needs a partner in this.

When they reach the community centre, the other team is waiting with Mikael, sweaty. Eva explains that it was a cycling challenge, all uphill, but they could switch-out as they only had two bikes. Eva groans when Vilde explains what they did.

“Seriously?” she says. “I would’ve been so much better at that!”

“Good thing you had us to carry you,” Jonas mumbles.

“I told you: I did the best I could.”

“You should’ve just said you were too tired instead of continually switching out,” Isak says. “That’s what fucked us.”

Sonja exchanges a look with Even: Eva’s still a suspect.

“You lost?” Yousef asks.

“We won,” Eva says. “50,000! So, I don’t get why we’re still standing here talking about it. I want to know if you guys won.”

Everyone turns towards Mikael, who says, “Guess that’s my job, right? Well, you made pizzas and you made it back in time. Good thing too, because this is all the food you’ll get tonight.”

“What’s the catch?” Sana asks before Sonja can. She heard it in Mikael’s voice, too.

“Why don’t you tell me?” Mikael asks.

“We weren’t allowed to split up?” Vilde says. When Mikael shakes his head, she looks dejected.

“No, that wasn’t a rule,” he says. “There was, however, a rule that you could only get one ingredient per household. Sana and Yousef went to a house after you and Sonja had already been there.”

“No,” Sana says. “We went in entirely different directions.”

“At first," Mikael agrees. "But when you couldn’t find mushrooms?”

“Shit,” Yousef says. “We doubled back.”

“Ok, but what were the chances they would’ve gone to that specific house?” Sana says. “We couldn’t have known that." 

“Yes, you could have if we didn’t split up,” Vilde says, gloating now. “How convenient, Sana. Sabotage that looks like an honest mistake?”

“Hey, it was an honest mistake,” Yousef says. “It was my idea, anyway.”

“And you’ve got your boyfriend to cover for you.”

“I’m just waiting for people to question why you’re so determined to put the blame on everyone else,” Sana says.

“Let them,” Vilde says. “I don’t have anything to hide.”

“Mikael, what does this mean?” Sonja asks.

“It means you could’ve won another 50,000, but instead you’ve got nothing but pizza,” Mikael says. “Now for tonight, you’re free to go wherever you want until midnight, at which point we’ll take you back to the hotel. Just remember the pizza is all you can eat, and for that reason, you’re also not allowed to order drinks. Otherwise, have as much fun as you can sober.”

“I’m dying to go out,” Eva says once Mikael’s gone. “Can we please go to a club or something? I don’t need to drink.. I just need to see other things. Other places. Other people.”

Most people are on board, but when Sana says she’ll stay behind, Yousef does too.

“You coming?” Even asks Sonja.

He’ll be with Isak all night, so what’s the point? It’s not like she’s made other friends here. And this way, she can stop Yousef and Sana from getting too close. She shakes her head. “No, you guys go ahead.”

When they leave, she wishes someone would’ve asked her again.

“Alright, this is your chance,” Sana says to Yousef, glancing at Sonja. “Tell her.”

Sonja’s surprised: she thought she was pretty much irrelevant to both of them. “Tell me what?”

Yousef’s a bit startled himself. “I told you thinking it would be a secret?”

“I know, but she’s not the mole, and she can help us.”

“How do you know that?”

“She does everything right.”

Sonja’s a little proud of herself: she has gotten away with something. “Tell me what?” she repeats.

Yousef sighs. “Even and I have a coalition.”

“Oh?” Clearly, it’s not one Yousef’s all that loyal too.

“And he’s told me about yours. He wanted me to know what you’re doing so I’d know he’s not the mole.”

That is…not great. In fact, that is the opposite of their strategy.

Fuck.

“But I told Sana,” Yousef continues. “Because I think he might be? Or, I don’t know. He said he thinks it’s you, and that’s why you got so close to him and proposed the strategy of making everyone think it’s him.”

“It doesn’t make sense, though,” Sonja says. “The mole is not going to agree to a strategy of making everyone think they’re the mole.”

“Unless they tell everyone else it’s bullshit,” Yousef says. “Even’s close with me, he’s close with Isak--who knows what other relationships he has?

“We’re not certain it’s Even. At first, Yousef thought it was either of you,” Sana says, and Yousef gives her a look that very clearly says: why are you telling her that? “But it’s not you, and even if it’s not Even, he’s not someone you should trust.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Sonja asks.

“Because you’re smart and logical, and that’s the kind of person I want to share information with.” Sana glances at Yousef. “We want to share information with. I’m hoping this will let you trust us.”

Well, certainly more than Even.

“Yeah. I guess I need someone in this game.”

Sana extends her hand for Sonja to shake, then Yousef does the same. And she should feel good to have a new, strong coalition, but she’s more confused than ever. Sana was who she suspected most before this conversation, but she’s clearly trying to help her now. Even was who she trusted most, but—

He just used her. She’s a fucking idiot, and she’s officially dismissing her gut from the game. It’s the real mole here.

“Well,” Sonja says. “We have all night to compare notes.”

Sana nods. “Let’s get to work, then.”

Chapter Text

Yousef is falling in love.

He is also one for hyperbole, but no, he’s sure that isn’t the case here. He is intuitive and invested, perhaps a hopeless romantic, and he is falling in love.

Sana pores over her journal with Sonja, and Yousef is trying to focus, really, but mostly he’s thinking about how he likes how focused she is. How she can be so studious, smart, sharp, but also laugh with him while dicing onions. Maybe even flirt? Yousef decides to get his hopes up.

“Yousef?”

Sana’s voice cuts through his thoughts. She raises her eyebrows at him and asks, “Anything to contribute?”

“Sorry, I zoned out,” he says. “Yeah, I still think it’s Even.”

“I don’t know,” Sana says. “When Isak and I talked this morning, he was positive it wasn’t him.”

The problem with Sana’s game is that she is too smart to trust in the obvious, a fact the mole is certainly counting on. But she trusts Yousef, he has more information on Even than she does, and he is happy to help her. It doesn’t matter if they split the money if they end up married anyway.

Yousef can admit that he might be in too deep.

“Isak’s protecting him,” Yousef says. “Even and him aren’t just a fling. It’s fast, but the way Even talks about it, it sounds serious.”

Actually, Yousef quite enjoys talking to Even about Isak. It’s rare to find someone else who believes in love-at-first sight, let alone is experiencing it.

“And he lied to me,” Sonja says, counting off points on her fingers. “And he’s fucked up the most.”

“You know he changed his own watch,” Yousef says. “Why wouldn’t he be wearing it until he went out? Who’d risk doing that when he was in the same room? The whole thing was a set-up.”

“I don’t understand why he’d put himself out there like that,” Sana says. “It’s stupid.”

“It’s working, isn’t it?” Yousef says. “If he’s hiding in plain sight?”

Sana hums, but ultimately nods. “It would be embarrassing if he gets away with that strategy.”

“Agreed,” Sonja says.

Along with Even, their top suspects are Jonas and Eva, though it’s more from process of elimination. Sonja is convinced it’s not Vilde, saying, “She’s too inflexible. The mole would let others follow through with their bad ideas.” Sana’s sure it’s not Isak, though her rationale is less logical. “He’s too stupid,” she says. “And I trust him.” Which sounds a bit contradictory, but neither Yousef nor Sonja push it.

Jonas, they all agree, is just too quiet. And, Sonja points out that he has a rapport with Mikael that suggests they may have already met

Which, Yousef realizes, doesn’t actually make sense because, “But Mikael doesn’t even know who the mole is, right?”

“Should we really trust the same production team that hired the more?” Sonja retorts, so quickly it almost sounds rehearsed.

No, they can’t trust production, especially not if Sonja’s among them. But, she might have just slipped up. Yousef glances towards Sana, but her eyes are locked on her journal as she shifts the conversation by saying, “What evidence do we have against Eva?”

Though none of them were at the other challenge, it sounds like Eva openly struggled in it despite being strong elsewhere. “Plus, she suggested that everyone go out tonight,” Sonja says. “How much do you want to bet they’re not back on time? Or that they drank?”

“The winner’s pot?” Yousef says.

“Hopefully there will be still something in it,” Sonja says, standing up. “Alright, I need some air. I’m just going to go for a walk around the black: do you want to join?”

Yousef exchanges a look with Sana, detecting a small smile he knows she’s trying to fight. When he offers her his widest in return, she relents, letting hers shine. “No,” Yousef says. “I think we’ll stay here.”

“Thanks for covering for me earlier,” Sana says once they’re alone.

“Really, don’t worry about. It was no problem.”

“No, but it was my plan that screwed us over. I just wanted to prove we could get everything without Vilde controlling our every move. Guess that backfired.”

“Hey, it’s not like I fought you on it. I’m no hero.”

Sana rolls her eyes. “Funny, I don’t remember calling you one?”

Yousef grins. “You were about to. I can tell.”

Sana laughs, and every time Yousef makes her do that, he considers it his greatest accomplishment. “I must be everyone’s biggest suspect now,” she says, then pauses. “Why aren’t I yours?”

He’s considered it, of course, but—

“You’ve shown me every step of you trying to work this out,” Yousef says. “You wouldn’t do that if were the mole: too many lies and too much logic to keep track off. Too easy to expose yourself.”

“Maybe you underestimate how smart I am.”

“Trust me, I don’t underestimate anything about you.”

Sana nods, pleased. “Can I confess something to you, then?”

“Of course.”

“I might have been too quick to trust Sonja. The Mikael thing?”

“You picked up on that too?”

“Thought you didn’t underestimate me?” Yousef just grins and gestures for her to continue. “Of course I did, but you don’t want the people you actually distrust to know you distrust them. It gives them too much power, so I wasn’t going to dwell on it when it happened.”

“But now?”

“Now, I’m thinking she’s lost track of what production’s told her versus what they’ve told the rest of us. If Mikael knows it’s her, she can pretend Mikael knows it’s someone else, and Jonas is the perfect person for that.”

“So maybe we shouldn’t have sold Even out,” Yousef says, sighing. “He was probably just trying to help me.

“It doesn’t matter as long as he doesn’t know what you did. He’ll still give you information.”

“Sonja could expose us.”

“She won’t. If she’s not the mole, she’s not going to risk losing two allies who looked out for her. And if she is the mole, she knows she’s convinced two people it’s not her, so she’s not about to risk that be betraying us. She’ll have to find another way to throw Even off.”

Yousef nods: he is not entirely confident, but Sana’s confidence makes up for what he lacks. “I’ll do what I can to keep my relationship with Even.”

“Good. With Sonja, we need to listen more than we talk. Get all the information we can from her, then lie when it’s our turn to speak.”

“So then, we’re back to where we started? It’s Even or Sonja?”

“Or Eva. Or Jonas. And I can’t trust what Sonja says, so I’m not ruling out Vilde either. At least we know it’s not Isak?”

Yousef laughs. “We must be the smartest coalition in the game’s history.”

“Oh, the best one. For sure.”

Yousef has to agree with that. Sure, his absolute confidence in who the mole is changes by the hour, but he is in the best position.

He’s with Sana.

---

Miraculously, everyone is back to the community centre on time, and everyone is sober.

Back in their hotel room, Yousef wants to pry Even for information, but so far all he’s gotten is a list of every cute thing Isak did while they were out. It’s not short.

“I even got him to dance with me,” Even says, surely aware he’s talking to himself more than he is to Yousef, but not seeming to mind. “He’s a terrible dancer. Horrific. But when he loosens up, he gets this smile that’s just…I can’t even describe it. It just looks like him. And I know, I know: I don’t actually know who that is, but I want to. Really fucking badly.”

“You could fall in love with him,” Yousef says. “I get it.”

Even smiles, knowing. “Good night with Sana?”

“Oh, I am falling in love with her,” Yousef says. “We’re soulmates.”

Even laughs. “You’re worse than I am, fuck. But what about game-wise? Any good notes?”

Though Even knows he’s close with Sana, he’s under the impression Yousef’s only true allegiance is to him. Anything Yousef discusses with Sana, Even assumes he’s entitled to know about.

Yousef will definitely leave some key details out.

“Nothing you and I haven’t already been over. Eva and Jonas are still the prime suspects.” He does not mention Sonja: he does not want to give Even any hint of his betrayal. “How were they tonight?”

“Mm, Eva definitely wanted to stay out, but there was no chance Vilde was letting us break curfew. Jonas was pretty chill, but that’s his brand.”

“Do you think he should be higher on our radars?” Yousef asks.

“Maybe. Trying to slip by unnoticed could be a good strategy for the mole. And in the cycling challenge, it’s true that Eva constantly switching out hurt us, but he was going pretty slow towards the end. I thought he was more athletic than that.”

“And he was quick to put a target on Eva, even though you guys won.”

“All very suspicious indeed.” Even grins. “Fuck, I love this. I’ve never had this much fun.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah. Games, strategy, falling in love, what could be better?”

Yousef suspects it’s more fun to be the mole than agonizing over who the mole is, so he takes notes of that. “It’s so stressful, though.”

“Even the falling in love part?”

In its own way, yes, but Yousef knows that’s not what Even means.

“No. I’m definitely enjoying that.”

---

When Mikael explains their next challenge, Yousef is nervous.

It’s capture the flag, but at night, in a fort, with radios and high stakes: 125,000 NOK, their biggest prize yet.

In the middle of the fort, there’s a glass bowl illuminated by two spotlights, and the players must keep it lit until sunrise by protecting it from the opposition. If the opposition turns off a spotlight or knocks the bowl over, the players lose the challenge. The opposition is unarmed, but the players have paintball guns: if they shoot a member of the opposition, that person is out of the game.

It’s too many variables. Every position is critical, and therefore it’s risky to put anyone anywhere. It’s the largest reward because the task itself seems impossible.

Then, wouldn’t it be incredible if they pulled it off?

“We should go on the offensive,” Even says. “If we take out the opposition, we don’t need to waste this beautiful night standing in place.”

“That is highly risky,” Vilde says. “We don’t know when the opposition will attack. We don’t know where they’ll be. And, we don’t know that the mole won’t lead one of them right to an unguarded station.”

“I agree,” Sana says. When Vilde’s eyebrows shoot up, Sana narrows her own. “What? I only argue you with you when you have a bad idea.”

“Or, we could do a mix?” Eva says. “We need to guard what, the bowl itself and the spotlights? That’s only three people.”

“Did you forget about the fort entrances or were you hoping we would?” Isak asks. “That’s another three.”

“Plus someone to be on lookout,” Sonja says. “That’s seven, and we probably want more than one person on the inside, right? And there’s all of us.”

“Do we really need two people on the inside?” Even asks. “I still think we should have at least two floaters playing offence. Weakening the opposition will make guarding our posts a hell of a lot easier.”

The thing is, Yousef agrees with Even. If the opposition is able to surround someone’s post, they’re fucked. Their stations will be vulnerable regardless: why not increase their chances by taking the opposition out?  

But, Even’s idea is met with a curt, “No,” from Sana, so Yousef doesn’t push it. This game is risky no matter what strategy they choose, and if they do lose, Yousef doesn’t want to lose his best ally/potential soulmate as well.

They decide that Sana will be on lookout; Even and Sonja will guard the spotlights; Yousef, Jonas, and Eva will guard the entrances; and Vilde and Isak will guard the bowl.

“Does it really have to be us?” Isak asks Vilde, who had the loudest voice in doling out the assignments.

“Yes,” she says. “We’re the most athletic. I suggest you go into this with a positive attitude.”

Given the look Isak shoots Even as everyone separates, he does not appear to be following Vilde’s advice.

Once he’s in position, Yousef can see Jonas at the other end of the fort, as well as Sonja at one of the spotlights. As two of his top suspects, he’s keeping as close of an eye on them as he is the opposition.

Unfortunately, the opposition takes hours to appear, and Yousef’s eyes get tired. He’s startled when Sana’s voice comes through the radio.

“Ok, I seem them coming. One towards you, Even, and another towards Sonja. The other two: I think they’re going for opposite ends of the fort. Everyone, stay alert, stay at your post, and we’ll be fine.”

Yousef unlocks the safety on his paintball gun and waits, ready. He doesn’t have time to think about Jonas or Sonja anymore—but then Jonas’s voice comes on the radio.

“Sana, which entrances?” he asks.

“Not yours. Yousef’s and Eva’s.”

As she says it, Yousef sees someone in his peripheral version. He turns and shoots, but misses. Expecting the person to go through his entrance, Yousef runs to block out with his body, but the person runs right past him.

“Jonas!” Yousef yells. “Jonas, they’re coming for you now!”

But when Yousef glances towards Jonas’s post, he isn’t there, and the opposition is running through it.

“Shit,” he says into the radio. “Shit. Isak, Vilde, they’re in.”

“They’re in?” Sana says. “What do you mean they’re in?”

It doesn’t matter: Yousef is sure Sana hears the glass shatter at the same time he does.

“It’s over,” Sana confirms. “Let’s just go inside.”

Inside, there are paintball splatters on the wall, so Yousef knows either Vilde or Isak, if not both of them, shot. Like him, their aim was just off.

Sonja’s comforting Vilde who is sitting against the wall, head in her hands. Isak just looks pissed.

“How the fuck did they get in?” he says. “That should not have fucking happened.”

“Through Jonas’s post,” Yousef says. “I looked over and he was gone.”

“I went to help Eva,” Jonas says. “I knew she couldn’t guard that entrance on her own.”

Eva snorts. “That’s your story? Fucking hell, why are you so determined to blame everything on me?”

“I thought Yousef would stop them before they got to my post,” Jonas says. “You’re not the one I’m blaming.”

“I missed my shot and they got past me,” Yousef says. “That’s it. I’m sorry.”

“That wouldn’t have mattered if you’d stayed where you were supposed to,” Sana says to Jonas.

“Ok, I fucked up too,” Jonas says. “But if they got through Yousef, don’t you think they would’ve gotten through me or Eva anyway? And what the fuck were Isak and Vilde doing that they couldn’t stop them?”

“We both shot,” Isak says. “They were too fast.”

“Really?” Eva says. “Fast enough to dodge both of you?”

“Yes,” Vilde says from the floor. “Now can we please stop talking about this? I feel bad enough.”

“Sorry, I’m not blaming you,” Eva says. “Just trying to make sense of it.”

“I already have,” Sana says. “I agree with Vilde. There’s nothing left to discuss.”

Perhaps realizing that’s not great content for a television show, the producers choose that moment to send Mikael in.

“So, it’s obvious you lost,” he says. “What’s less obvious is why. You’ll have the rest of the night to reflect on that, and I’ll catch up with your conclusions at breakfast. For now, goodnight.”

As they walk back to the cars that’ll take them to the hotel, Sana leans into Yousef.

“Notice Jonas didn’t talk at all during the strategy session?” she says.

“Not really?” Yousef admits, and Sana rolls her eyes. “But yeah, Even’s nervous about him too.”

“Even and Sonja got off easy this challenge,” Sana says. “Doesn’t mean they leave our radars.”

“Agreed.”

And then, a smile from Sana that’s unexpected, soft, and possibly the most beautiful thing Yousef’s ever seen. He is one for hyperbole, but not in this case.

“I’m glad you’re here,” she says.

“Me too.”

In a game like this, Yousef is grateful for moments of sincerity like that.

Chapter Text

Vilde works harder than anyone else.

This is not something she decided for herself: she’s been told it by everyone else. Hiring committees in her organization: we appreciate your work, but unfortunately you do not have the experience for this position. Football coaches: your dedication to training is admirable, but you’re not ready for this team. Her therapist and her brain, in dialogue with each other: I’m so proud of you for doing your homework, says her therapist. So then what hope is there for me to feel anything other than this? her brain responds.

No matter. She’ll always work hard. What else can she do?

It’s frustrating, however, when others benefit from her labour. She has notes, good ones: arrows connecting ideas, scratches eliminating disproven ones, extra analysis in the margins. And she’s shared most of them with Eva because, well, she likes Eva. She’s a comfortable person: around her, Vilde can snort when she laughs, cry with mascara running down her cheeks, talk about…anything, really.

She’s a good friend, but not a particularly useful ally.

Eva’s own opinions are inconsistent, her notes are almost non-existent, and though she’s never worked that closely with Eva in a challenge, the reports from others are that her performance is…not great.

So, Vilde tries to help her out—they’re friends, that’s what you do—but she’s staring to want something in return other than suspicion.

As they walk to breakfast together, Vilde asks Eva what she already asked last night.

“Why did Jonas leave his post to help you?”

“Because he’s obsessed with me?” Eva jokes, but Vilde doesn’t smile. She doesn’t like that idea. “You know I’ve always thought he’s shady. He just saw another opportunity to blame me for something.”

“Hm.”

That is what Eva’s told Vilde: Jonas fucks up in the challenges, Jonas built a friendship with her only to betray her, Jonas is going to steal a lot of money from all of them. And Vilde worked with Jonas in the maze challenge where he was terribly inefficient, so she knows Eva’s not wrong—

But because she takes good notes, Vilde also knows the following: Eva and Jonas fought during the cycling challenge, but when they went out afterwards, Eva laughed the loudest with him. They constantly exchange looks when others are talking, like they know something everyone else doesn’t. And, the facts are that Jonas went to help her in the fort challenge—maybe it was a set-up, maybe it was something else.

In any case, Vilde has to give Eva less information. She needs to like her less.

At breakfast, Mikael asks them to choose a number between one and twenty. Yousef suggests seventeen, and seventeen it is.

“Alright,” Mikael says. “I want you all to turn to the seventeenth page in your journal, rip it out, and hand it to me.”

Vilde’s heart speeds up. That’s her hard work. That’s all she has, and given everyone else’s hesitance, she’s not the only one freaking out.

“Can we cross stuff out first?” Eva asks.

“Afraid not,” Mikael says. “Here’s how this is going to work: I’m going to read an excerpt from each page aloud. If you admit you wrote it, you’ll get the page back. If you don’t, I’ll shred the page, and you won’t be able to participate in the next challenge. Of course, everyone will know who didn’t claim their page, and if there’s only a few of you…is it worth the risk?”

Instead of worrying about her own journal, Vilde decides to watch everyone’s reactions to the other pages. At least it’s productive.

“First one,” Mikael begins. “‘I don’t think I can trust Even anymore. He’s working with everyone, but making everyone feel like they’re his number one. I can play that game too, and I can play it better than him. Being charming means nothing next to real relationships.’”

Isak’s eyes flash up at that. Even doesn’t seem too concerned, leaning back in his chair with that smile Vilde’s realized she doesn’t need to worry about. The journal owner is right: being charming is a shortsighted strategy. “Might as well give up now that you’ve seen through my master plan,” he says, then pauses. “Or I’ll create another. We’ll see how I feel.”

Vilde rolls her eyes: Even is not the mole, and everyone’s wasting time focusing on him. That’s the point of his game, and she feels like she’s the only one who sees through it.

“Any authors want to own their work?” Mikael asks, and no one responds. That strikes Vilde as a huge risk: if everyone else claims their page, they’re exposed regardless. “Ok then, moving on. I can’t actually read this page because it’s just a doodle of a snapback with hearts around it.”

“Oh, that’s mine,” Even says. “Important to work in some time for creativity, don’t you think? Engage the right brain a bit?”

 “Very artistic, congratulations,” Mikael says. “Next one: ‘Eva’s asked me to lie for her again. I’m fucking over it, but I’m keeping count.’ And who is playing the victim here?”

No one says anything, but everyone’s eyes dart to Eva for her defense. “What?” she says. “What do you expect me to say to that?”

Something, at least. How can Vilde trust someone who owns that she’s a liar?

“Hm, here’s another interesting one,” Mikael says. “‘Sana has no idea that everything I say to her is bullshit.’ You do realize only one of you is the mole, right? You don’t all need to lie to each other.”

“No one’s going to admit to that one?” Sana says when the silence lasts too long. “Because if you like, I’ll do it for you. You’re underestimating me if you don’t think I know who’s lying to me.”

Slowly, Isak raises his hand, keeping his eyes locked with Sana’s.

“Does this surprise you?” Isak asks.

“No.” It’s meant to be firm, but Vilde’s always heard the uncertainty in Sana’s voice.

“You were working with Sana?” Even asks.

“No,” Isak says, actually firm. “I was getting ammo against her, and I have it now.”

“Mikael,” Even says, looking at Isak in a way that Vilde feels she’s not meant to see. Isak shoots a smirk back at him. “Can we take a five-minute recess?”

“Or ten?” Isak asks.

“No, we’re not quite finished here,” Mikael says. “And I think you’ll both want to hear this next one. ‘After tonight, I believe Isak is the mole. He is not as stupid or distracted as he seems. How did he go from being incompetent in the early rounds to a challenge asset now? He knew that he could openly sabotage in the beginning because people would forget about him as the game progressed.’”

Vilde silently thanks herself for being vague. Tonight was actually last night, the fort challenge, when Isak shot at the opposition only to discover the safety was still on his paintball gun. Too convenient to be a coincidence.

She’s glad she can at least keep that information to herself.

“This person claims to know everything,” Mikael says. “Yet they won’t even claim their own writing?”

Vilde keeps quiet. If Isak is the mole, he’ll find some way to mess with her for exposing him, and she does not want that kind of target. Sure, it’s a sacrifice to sit out of the challenge, but she’s already helped the team today. They can manage without her.

“Doesn’t matter,” Isak says. “I know who it was.”

It’s a threat, but Vilde doesn’t feel it. Isak sees her as annoyance, not an obstacle, as most everyone does. It hurts to be underestimated, but it’s not without its advantages.

When Isak doesn’t follow-up his statement, Mikael sighs and says, “Guys, we’re making a TV show. The cliffhangers are great for commercial breaks, but you can trust the editors with that job. So Isak, who do you think wrote it?”

“Sana. Someone said Even’s playing everyone, and maybe he is, fuck if I know,” Isak says. “But Sana’s game is similar. She’s gotten close to the people she suspects the most to get information from them: me and Yousef.”

“That’s not true,” Sana says, though she directs at solely at Yousef. At his furrowed eyebrows, she repeats herself, a little more desperate. “Yousef, it’s not.”

“Ok,” Isak says. “Then it’s not because you suspect us the most. It’s because you’re the mole, and we’re the two people you’re worried will figure it out.”

“I don’t know who wrote that page,” Sana says. “But it clearly wasn’t me, because I personally think you’re an idiot.”

“Hm,” Mikael says, reading the next page to himself. “This one might hurt now. ‘Whatever happens, I’m just happy I met Sana.’”

“That’s me,” Yousef says. “Of course.”

Sana’s kept her gaze on him, but she looks down at the table now.

“Don’t you think he got off kind of easy?” Isak asks Mikael.

“I’d read the entire page, but it’s all about how much he likes Sana,” Mikael says. “People can tune in to The Bachelor for that. I’d, personally, rather read letters like this next one: Maybe we’re overlooking Vilde.’” After a pause for someone to come forward, he continues, “Really, no one claiming this one either? You might regret this when you see the next challenge."

Vilde feels a strange sense of gratitude towards the anonymous author: someone’s seen her.

“Finally, the last page,” Mikael says. “‘Every night here is so fucking boring. When will they let us leave the hotel and drink? Or is this some kind of tactic from the mole? Make us so bored we want to break the rules?’”

Eva raises her hand high. “Well?” she says to Mikael. “Am I right?”

Mikael holds his hands up in innocence. “I don’t even know the mole’s strategies. What I do know is that you’ve put yourself at a disadvantage with Vilde, Sonja, Jonas, and Sana all sitting out the next challenge. You have five minutes to finish up, then the four of you will go up to your hotel rooms, and the rest of you will meet me in the parking lot.”

In the shuffle that follows, Eva grabs Vilde’s arm. “Come with me to the washroom?” she says.

Vilde follows her, but they stop outside the door so the cameras can still film them. Eva glances over her shoulders, then whispers, “You wrote that stuff about Isak, right? It sounded like you.”

Caught off guard, and kind of delighted, by the idea that Eva knows what she sounds like, Vilde finds herself nodding. Eva’s eyes widen alongside her smile. “Fucking hell, I knew it!” she says, her voice getting louder than Vilde’s comfortable with. “Ok, why haven’t you told me this? When did you write that? What happened?”

Vilde hesitates. She hates that she’s made Isak a suspect in everyone’s mind: that was her information. She’s tired of people cheating off her homework—especially Eva.

“What did you ask someone to lie about?” Vilde asks.

“What?” Eva says, but Vilde doesn’t help her out. Eva plays stupid, but she isn’t. “Oh, you mean that page? You know Jonas wrote it, and I can’t even keep track of our relationship.”

Nothing. She’s giving Vilde absolutely nothing.

“But let’s get back to Isak,” Eva says. “Come on, spill! What do you know?”

“I’d prefer not to share that right now.”

Eva furrows her eyebrows, and by the time understanding crosses her face, the producers are ushering them in different directions.

Vilde’s playing her own game now.

---

In Sonja and Sana’s room, the two of them, Vilde, and Jonas, are treating themselves to a large spread from room service. None of them have owned up to their pages, though Vilde’s fairly confident in her own conclusions. She does believe that Jonas wrote the page about Eva. Sonja seems to respect her the most while Sana respects her the least, so Sonja probably wrote the one about her. That leaves Sana as the author of the page about Even, which is not a relationship she’s observed, but makes sense given her ties with Isak and Yousef.

“You know what’s interesting about the other group?” Jonas says, not waiting for a response. “Three of their journals had nothing to do with the game. The mole doesn’t need to take notes.”

“So you don’t think it’s Isak,” Sonja says. “Or any of us?”

Jonas shakes his head. “I’m just saying it’s interesting.”

“How cryptic,” Sana says. “Do you ever say anything actually useful?”

Jonas smirks. “Try not to. Everyone here talks too much.”

Vilde doesn’t disagree with that.

They’re interrupted by a knock on the door, courtesy of Mikael. “Heard you’re having a party,” he says as a greeting. “Mind if I crash?”

Vilde eyes the envelope in his hand. “Only if that has nothing to do with us?” she says.

Mikael taps the envelope’s seal, smirking. “Why don’t you open it and find out?”

Vilde does as she’s told, finding four cheques for 25,000 NOK addressed to each player in the room. She fans them out for the others to see.

“Holy shit,” Jonas mumbles.

Sana purses her lips. “What’s the catch here?”

“No catch, just a choice,” Mikael says. “Right now, the other players are on a scavenger hunt across Toronto. If they win, they’ll earn 100,00 for the pot. If they lose, you get nothing, unless you’re all willing to play a little dirty. All they have are vague clues explaining where they need to go. I’m going to give you maps that show you exactly where everything is, and a cell phone to call them with. You can choose to help them, and if they’re successful, all is normal: you’ll get 100,00 in the pot. However, you can also choose to lead them astray. If you lead them astray and they fail, you each earn 25,000—that’s guaranteed money, no matter the outcome of the game. If they win in spite of that, the 100,000 still goes in the pot, but you lose the guaranteed 25,000. I’ll give you some time to think about it.”

Despite Mikael’s last line, he takes a seat in the hotel room’s chair, making himself comfortable. “Go on,” he says, gesturing with his hands for them to continue. “Don’t let me stop your deliberations.”

“Ok, let’s think this through,” Sonja says. “If we help them, we get 100,000 in the pot. Isn’t it easiest to just do that?”

“That none of us are guaranteed a share of in the end,” Jonas says. “I don’t know. I like the idea of guaranteed money.”

“It’s arrogant to assume the 25,000 is guaranteed,” Sana says. “What if they still win? We lose that money, and they’ll figure out what we were doing. No one will trust us.”

Vilde knows her decision. All of her work has served other’s people’s games.

It’s time to be selfish.

“No one trusts us anyway since we didn’t claim our letters,” she says. “If Jonas is right that the mole is in the other group, they’ll sabotage this challenge, and they’re likely to lose no matter what we do. Why don’t we go with the option that will pay us?”

“What if the mole is in our group?” Sonja says. “We’re just going to give them 25,000?”

“If we get it too?” Vilde says. “I’m fine with that.”

“Me too,” Jonas says.

“I wouldn’t mind betraying Isak now,” Sana says. “So ok, sure. I’m in.”

Sonja still seems unconvinced, but she knows she’s outnumbered. “Alright,” she says. “I guess we’re doing this.”

“Thank you for making an interesting decision,” Mikael says, standing up to hand them their supplies. “I’ll leave it to you to decide how you want to play this. Someone will come get you once the other team returns to see who was successful.”

As Mikael leaves the room, Jonas reaches for the phone, but Vilde intercepts it before he can do anything. “We need to plan this,” she says. “We should only call them one.”

“What the fuck?” Jonas says. “Why?”

“Because if we call and give them the wrong directions, they’re going to ask why when we call back,” Sana says. “Einstein.”

“Exactly,” Vilde says. “We pretend we get one, three-minute phone call to give them all the information we can. They’ll get overwhelmed, and we can blame their mistakes on their confusion.”

“What if they try to call us back?” Sonja asks.

“Let it ring,” Vilde says. “We’ll say we would’ve gotten a penalty if we answered. Also, we should be careful with who talks to who. If Sana gives information to Isak, for example, he’ll know it’s a set-up.”

“Maybe Sana should talk to Yousef then,” Sonja says.

Sana frowns. “I don’t know where we’re at after the journals. What about you and Eva, Vilde?”

“That relationship has also changed,” Vilde says, matter-of-fact. “Jonas?”

He laughs. “Yeah, do you think anyone trusts me?”

“Ok,” Sana says, glancing around the room. Her eyes lock on Sonja, but Vilde catches Sonja quickly shaking her head. What’s that about? “Ok. Me and Yousef, then.”

Sana dials the only number in the phone, puts it on speaker, and Eva answers. “Hello?”

“Eva, it’s Sana. We’ve got information that will help you, but we only have three minutes. Can you get Yousef? He’s good at memorization.”

“Sure, yeah, hold on.”

There’s a shuffle of the phone being handed over, and Vilde catches Even asking, “Who’s that?” in the background.

“Sana?” Yousef says.

“What are you still looking for? We have maps. We know where everything is.”

Yousef launches into his questions, and Sana provides fabricated answers. Not to everything, just a wrong direction here and there—enough to throw them off.

When it’s been four minutes, Vilde realizes their mistake and frantically points her to watch. “We’ve got to go now or else we’ll get a penalty,” Sana says, quick. “Bye.”

“Sana, hold on--"

She hangs up.

“Smooth,” Jonas says.

“Don’t criticize if you didn’t help,” Sana says then, to Vilde’s surprise, offers her a smile as she extends her arm for a high-five. “Nice work.”

Vilde returns the smile and the high-five. “You too.”

After that, they’re stuck waiting for the other team to return. The phone rings twice, but they don’t answer it. When time’s up and a producer ushers them downstairs to the lobby, the players waiting for them don’t look happy.

Time to act.

“Now that everyone’s here,” Mikael says. “I’m sorry to say that you ran out of time to complete the scavenger hunt and, unfortunately, lost the 100,000.”

“What?” Vilde says, playing confused and concerned. “What happened?”

“We got lost,” Isak says. “How do you think that happened?”

“No, I gave Yousef clear directions,” Sana says, looking towards him. “Right?”

“I thought so?” he says. “But when you said to take a right on Edward—”

“I didn’t say that. I said left.”

Yousef furrows his eyebrows. “I thought for sure—”

“No,” Sonja says. “She definitely said left.”

“Fuck, I don’t know then,” Yousef says, and Vilde’s amazed he’ll still give Sana the benefit of the doubt. “It was a lot to take in at once. I’m sorry, guys.”

“Really don’t think it was your fault,” Even says.

“Me neither,” Isak says.

When they both look towards Eva, she throws her hands up. “Seriously? I don’t know what the fuck’s happening anymore.”

“Then everything’s going to plan for the mole,” Mikael says with a smile. “You have the rest of the night off, but might I suggest you spend it studying?”

Of course, that’s what Vilde would do anyway. Though this time, once they’re back in their room, Vilde reads her journal on her own without consulting Eva.

“Ok, I can’t with this anymore,” Eva says. “Vilde, did I do something? Why aren’t you talking to me? What happened to roommates sticking together?”

This has been Vilde’s best, and certainly most profitable, day in the game, all because she finally did what’s best for her without worrying about anyone else.

And since Vilde’s a logical person, that’s her strategy now.

“Oh,” Vilde says. “I’ve decided that’s over. You can do your own work from now on.”

“Wait, Vilde--"

Vilde goes back to studying.

Chapter Text

Jonas is on a self-directed internship. Because he couldn’t get a real one.

Really, what better experience is there than this for a journalist? Reading other people, getting to the truth—even if his tactics here would be considered unethical in his field. It’s all about transferable skills.

He just hopes it’ll be a paid internship.

“So are you going to write like, a tell-all when this is over?” Eva asks, sitting cross-legged on the end of his bed. They have his room to themselves: Isak spends most of his time with Even now. “Secrets of the mole?”

“And get sued for violating the NDA? Fuck no.”

“Oh, I thought maybe that shit about me in your journal was to give that story a personal touch, some romantic tension. But you were just venting in your diary.”

Eva grins, a challenge, which Jonas is happy to meet. “Is this romantic tension?” he asks, gesturing between them. “Or do you just like fucking with me?”

“Haven’t decided yet. You?”

“Same.”

“I’m pissed at you now, though,” she says. “Vilde’s not talking to me.”

“You’re welcome.”

Eva reaches behind Jonas for a pillow, then smacks him with it. “Don’t be a dick. She was the only other person giving me information.”

That she never shared with Jonas, but he knows what not to mention. Jonas’s primary goal in this game is to get information, from careful observation and strategic questions, just as he’s been taught to do. Eva’s his most trustworthy source, and he believes that she trusts him too.

The problem is Vilde, the way Eva talks about her. They’re closer than roommates: it’s evident in the way Eva slips Vilde into conversations she doesn’t belong in. Vilde’s handwriting is so much neater than yours. Vilde said you were shit in the challenge. I was telling Vilde this earlier….

And Jonas does not fucking trust Vilde, not after they were in the maze together. He was shit in that challenge, but only because her directions were worse. She’s the first to warn others about breaking the rules and to scold them when they do it, a decent cover-up.  And when the opposition slipped past Jonas in the fort, he watched her shoot at the wall without even attempting to aim.

Besides all of that, he knows from Eva that Vilde has good notes, and he’s caught her watching him and Eva when they maybe weren’t doing their best at keeping their secret coalition an actual secret. She’s onto them, and if she’s the mole, that means they’re fucked.

That’s why he wrote in his journal about her, and why he didn’t own up to it.

Initially, Jonas believed Vilde wrote the entry about Eva, but that can’t be if its reveal is what led Vilde to stop talking to Eva. He didn’t think Eva really talked to Sana or Sonja, but either way, Eva’s not telling him everything.

In any case, Jonas can’t be annoyed at the journal’s author for remaining anonymous: it put 25,000 in his bank account. More importantly, it reminded him he can’t actually trust anyone here.  

“What were you even talking about?” Eva asks. “When did I ask you to lie?”

Even if Jonas was still confident in their coalition, he wouldn’t tell Eva the truth about the journals. He doesn’t want to share his theory about Vilde because, at the end, he wants the money for himself. He just fucking needs it.

“Just getting me to blame shit on you,” Jonas says.

Eva furrows her eyebrows. “But we talked about that? If you wanted to do something else, you should’ve said something.”

“I don’t even remember when I wrote that, honestly. Probably just fucking tired or pissed about something else. Venting in my diary.”

“You could’ve raised your hand, then.”

Jonas is nervous, and he knows he’s taking too long to respond, but thinking on his feet isn’t exactly his strength. Another skill he’s trying to develop.

“Then everyone would know we’ve worked together.”

Eva also takes too long to respond, settling on a noncommittal, “Yeah. Ok, maybe you’re right.”

“That’s not important, anyway,” Jonas says. “What happened during the scavenger hunt?”

“You heard. Sana gave Yousef the wrong directions—I think, anyway. He didn’t put her on speaker, which was kind of shady?”

“I haven’t trusted him since the first challenge.”

“I don’t know, otherwise he was pretty solid. Isak was useful: I think he was trying to prove himself after the journal thing. Even mostly flirted with him.”

“And you carried the team, naturally.”

“To failure?”

Jonas laughs. “I didn’t mean that. I just thought, given how outgoing, charming, and fucking hot you are—”

“Do go on.”

“That you’d be good at talking to the locals.”

Eva shrugs, a smirk on the corner of her lips. “I would’ve won it for us had you guys not screwed us over.”

“It was probably Yousef that screwed you over.”

“Is that really all the four of you did while we were on the challenge?” Eva asks. “For all that time, you got one phone call to us, just to help? No strings attached?”

Jonas can’t tell her the truth about that. He’s worked so hard to convince her that he has her back, even leaving his own post to help her in the fort challenge—though that fucking backfired. It’ll ruin their relationship if she knows he prioritized himself over their coalition.

 “None that I could see, anyway.”

“That feels pretty off-brand for this show.”

“I don’t know, maybe someone in that room knew something I didn’t.”

“Then you’re a shit journalist for missing it.”

Jonas laughs. “Yeah, maybe I am. I’m generally pretty useless when we’re not working together.”

Eva studies him in a way that makes Jonas feel like he should say something, but the more he talks, the more likely Eva is to catch him in a lie. So, as his been his strategy for most of the game, he keeps his mouth shut.

“I should go back to my room before we break curfew,” Eva says. “If you’re the mole, I’m going to be so fucking pissed at you.”

“I’d be shit as the mole. I can’t lie.”

“No,” Eva says. “You can’t.”

 ---

The next day, Eva doesn’t talk to Jonas.

Usually she’ll catch him at breakfast, or make a trip to his room if Isak’s not around, but she’s barely even glanced at him. Waiting for the challenge to begin, Jonas sits alone in his room, panicking. Eva may not have been an entirely credible source, but fuck, at least she was something. Without her, Jonas has no one.

It’s just not going to work. Jonas can’t rely on his own observations: his perspective is limited, he’s biased, he’s everything his professors warned him against. He needs an editor, someone who can validate his conclusions or call bullshit on them.

As if it was scripted, Isak walks through the door, greeting Jonas with a nod.

Isak’s interesting.

They get along fine, but they’ve never talked much game with each other, despite Jonas’s early promise to Eva that he’d try to get close to him. Isak was too unpredictable in the beginning, and then he was too close to Even, but he’s recently moved down Jonas’s list of suspects. Unlike Vilde, he tried in the fort challenge by taking aim—something just went wrong with his gun, probably courtesy of the mole. The journal reveal was more telling: Isak wouldn’t work that hard to analyze everyone if his sole purpose was to fuck things up.

It also made Jonas realize he may have underestimated Isak—not as the mole, but as a fellow player. Isak played Sana, and it seemed to work. That’s impressive. If he has ammo against her, he probably has it against others players as well.

Jonas wants access to it.  

“Do you have any allies in this game?” Jonas asks. Isak does a double-take, like he’s confirming that Jonas meant to speak to him despite being the only two people in the room. Jonas tries to move past it. “Because I don’t.”

“If I did,” Isak says, slowly. “I wouldn’t tell you.”

“Sure, but I think I’ve figured it out anyway. You’re clearly not working with Sana anymore. You’ve got your thing with Even, but you don’t actually trust him, right?” Jonas takes the way Isak’s gaze drops to the floor as confirmation. “And I’ve never seen you talk to anyone else.”

Caught, Isak asks, “Why do you even care?”

“I’m in the exact same position, and I’m too fucking stupid to figure out this game on my own.” Isak smiles at that. “I want your information on Sana and anything else you’ve got. I’ll give you what I have on my former ally.”

Isak furrows his eyebrows. “Who is…?”

“Eva.”

Isak rolls his eyes despite being the one to ask the question. “Yeah, no shit. She’d come to Even’s room all the time, make a bullshit excuse for why she was there, then leave within five minutes. It didn’t take me long to realize she was making sure I was out of our room.”

That is…surprisingly astute of Isak and surprisingly stupid of Eva. Then again, Jonas never asked her how she knew his room was clear when she knocked. He just let her in.

Though he feels like a bit of an idiot now, Jonas decides it’s good that Isak already knew. “Ok,” Jonas says. “Then you know I’m being real with you now.”

“Cool,” Isak says. “But I don’t give a shit about what you have on Eva. Everything she told you was probably a lie, anyway. What else can you give me?”

Jonas only has one other piece of information. He needs to raise the stakes.

“Sana gave you the wrong directions,” Jonas says. “Yousef wasn’t lying.”

“Yeah, I fucking knew that. Why, though?”

“Because each of us got 25,000 for misdirecting you.”

Isak’s eyebrows shoot up to his forehead. “Shit.”

“I didn’t want to,” Jonas lies. “We could’ve just helped you and the money would’ve gone in the winner’s pot, easy. Sana and Vilde really led the charge.”

“You know I could tell everyone about this?”

“You want to give everyone the intel you just got about Sana and Vilde? Or do you want to keep it for yourself?”

Isak considers that, then nods. “Maybe it’s best I keep it for myself.”

“I’m serious about this if you are,” Jonas says. “We’re past the halfway point. We can ride this coalition until the end, and hopefully it’ll be me and you splitting the money.”

Jonas extends his fist, and after a moment’s hesitation, Isak pounds it. Success. “So,” Jonas says. “What have you got?”

“You know Vilde completely fucked up in the fort?” Isak asks. Jonas nods. “Do you have anything else on her?”

Jonas shakes his head: he’s not giving Isak everything. “Not really. I’m more interested in what you know about Sana.”

“What I said yesterday. She’s trying to play everyone.”

“Who is ‘everyone?’”

“Well, me, but that’s over now. I was supposed to be her number one, and she was supposed to have a side coalition with Yousef and Sonja to get information—but she really, really likes Yousef. I got the sense she was prioritizing them over me. And then, you know about her thing with Eva.”

Jonas furrows his eyebrows. “With Eva?”

“You don’t know about that? Shit, Eva really played you.”

Jonas is beginning to understand that.

“I don’t know the details, just that Sana was using her to get intel on Vilde,” Isak says. “But it sounded like Eva saw them as an actual coalition, coming up with plans for them to fuck with things. She thought Eva was either the mole and getting others to do her dirty work, or that she was trying to trap the mole into openly sabotaging a challenge. I thought she was deflecting.”

Sana must’ve wrote the journal entry about Eva, then. Jonas decides to keep that information to himself as well.

“Because you think she’s the mole?” Jonas asks. Isak nods. “I don’t get it, though. Why would she form that many coalitions if she’s the mole? She had to know she’d get caught.”

“It creates distrust among everyone else, right? She’d shit talk Eva and Sonja to me and Yousef. You’re not going to trust Eva again, and you’re probably not going to work with Sonja or Yousef now. If everyone’s united against each other, they’re not united against her.”

It does not seem like a mastermind plan to Jonas. It’s just sloppy gameplay. He’s still more worried about Vilde, and now Eva, but he’ll let Isak keep his conspiracy theory.

“Shit,” Jonas says. “I’m glad you’re on my side now.”

“Me too.”

---

Mikael introduces the next challenge with, “Have any of you found the game getting personal?”

Jonas tries to watch everyone’s eyes, but it’s near impossible. Eva’s on him, Isak’s on Even’s, Sana’s on Yousef’s, Vilde’s on Eva’s, Sonja’s on Even’s—it feels safe for Jonas to answer with, “Yes.”

“So, what better time to bring in the people who know you the best?” Mikael says. “I have eight statements here about each of you from your loved ones. You have to guess who each statement is about. For each correct answer, you’ll earn 10,000, and you’ll be able to reunite with your loved one. Ready?”

There are various murmurs of affirmation, but not everyone’s expressing the kind of excitement Jonas would expect in this moment. Isak’s quiet, and Vilde’s practically gone pale.

“First one,” Mikael says, “The most irritating thing about this person is how stubborn they are.”

Sana raises her hand. “That sounds like my brother, Elias.” No one else claims it: they’re probably hoping their loved ones had nicer things to say.

“Alright, next,” Mikael says. “This person is the smartest person I know.”

“Uh, I think that might be me?” Vilde says.  

“No,” Isak says. “I’m pretty sure it’s me.”

“Can we switch after we’ve heard all the answers?” Vilde asks.

“Afraid not,” Mikael says. “This is not only about how well you know yourself, but how well you know your loved ones—what kinds of things would they say?”

“Ok,” Vilde says. “Isak, I am confident that’s about me." 

“I thought you ‘thought it might be you.’”

“I was just hoping I'd get something more personal."

Something shifts in Isak’s expression, revealing a vulnerability Jonas hasn’t seen from him in this game. It solidifies his decision to trust him. “Alright,” Isak says. “Then it’s yours.”

For some, including Jonas’s, there’s no debate. He knows it’s his sister talking about him when Mikael reads a comment about being a good listener. Eva instantly recognizes herself as the life of the party. Sonja claims a line about being strong in her convictions.

That leaves Even, Isak, and Yousef.

“I’m most impressed by how resourceful this person is,” Mikael reads.

“I’m guessing that’s me,” Isak says.

“You’re sure?” Even asks.

“Yeah, my family doesn't do sappy shit, so. It makes sense.”

Even claims the next one about being brave, while Yousef gets what’s left: I’ve never met someone as loving as this person. It seems to fit.

“Alright,” Mikael says. “I can tell you that you’ve won 60,000 for the pot. Not too bad, unless, of course, you were hoping for 80,000.”

“Fuck,” Jonas says, and he’s not alone. They can’t fully win anything here.

“You’ll know who was right when I send in the loved ones from the other room,” Mikael continues. As for those of you were who wrong, well, continue to enjoy each other’s companies. From what I can tell, you’re all getting along great.”

Mikael smirks as he heads to the other room, and then their loved ones begin trickling in. As grateful as Jonas is to see his sister, he tries to keep his attention on what’s happening around him. Isak and Vilde are the only ones without loved ones, talking quietly with one another. Pulling away from his sister with a quick apology, Jonas approaches them.

“Sorry guys,” he says. “I know this sucks for you.”

“I’m actually not that heartbroken about it,” Isak says, and Jonas doesn’t miss Vilde’s quick nod at his statement. Based on Isak’s comments throughout the challenge, he assumes Isak’s nonchalance is coming from a shitty family situation, but he’s not as generous in his assessment of Vilde. A loved one could fuck with the mole’s game by revealing something they’re not supposed to; Vilde just dodged a bullet through her own design. Jonas is more confident in his assessment of her than ever.

Rejoining his sister, she says, “If you lose this game, I’m going to look so stupid for calling you a good listener.”

“Don’t worry,” Jonas says. “I’m not going to lose.”

Chapter Text

Sana is bad at this game. And Sana does not like to be bad at things.

She shuffles the pages of her journal around her bed like she’s solving a jigsaw puzzle, having ripped it apart after the reveal to prevent a potential disaster. Sorry Mikael, but you can’t read page seventeen because there is no page seventeen. She got lucky last time that Jonas didn’t claim his entry; she’s confident he’s taking the blame for her entry about Eva.

Despite that, the journal reveal still changed her entire game. Sana’s created three categories on her bed for the entries: Observations, Speculation, and Bullshit Isak Told Me. The last one, unfortunately, is the largest.

She trusted him, and she wishes it were more complicated than that, but it’s not. She just did. And Sana really didn’t think he was smart enough to screw her over like that, let alone to read her the way he did. Not that he was entirely right: she did not get close to Isak because she thought he was the mole; his fuck-ups always seemed too clumsy to be contrived.

But, that is what she did with Yousef.

No one is that sincere, that inherently kind, especially in the world of reality television. Sana assumed Yousef was playing a character: no one suspects the nice guy, but it’s always the fucking nice guy. And Isak called out her strategy in front of him.

The problem is that as Sana’s gotten closed to Yousef, she’s started to believe he is that sincere. His journal entry, his notes on the game, were that he was happy to have met her. At the loved one visit, his best friend said he was the most loving person they’d ever met. So, it’s getting harder for Sana to rationalize the pit in her stomach she gets around him, the one she’s always credited to adrenaline from the game or fear of getting caught. Maybe it is something else.

Unfortunately, there is not fucking way he trusts her now—not after the journals, and definitely not after the scavenger hunt. Sana does not regret going for the 25,000, but she does regret agreeing to give directions. She should not have let other put her in that position, and she is very aware that it was Sonja who suggested she do it, Sonja who shook her head in refusal when Sana silently asked her. And then she made that comment about Mikael knowing Jonas, and was all too willing to help Even make everyone think he was the mole—

It could still be Even, though. As Yousef put it at the time, hiding in plain sight.

But if Even’s employing that strategy, Eva’s beating him at it. Sana approached her after the cooking challenge, once she realized that she’d underestimated Vilde. While Sonja believed Vilde was too committed to her plans to be the mole, Sana thought the opposite. Why else would she be so insistent on things going her way?

So, she proposed a deal with Eva: trade intel on Vilde for intel on Isak, though she told Isak it was for intel on Yousef. It was meant to serve as a red herring for Eva, to trick her into believing Isak’s the mole. And maybe that part of it worked, Sana has no idea, but she got nothing on Vilde in return.

“Vilde has the best notes of anyone here,” Eva had said. “I feel like we’re in high school and I’m copying her homework.”

“But has she told you anything?” Sana asked. “About the challenges? Who she’s working with?”

“Uh, no. Not really,” Eva said. “But there has to be a reason she’s so thorough, right? Like that she needs to keep her story straight as the mole?”

That seemed like a stretch to Sana, and she told Eva as much. “You’ve wasted my time. And you tricked me into giving you information without giving me anything in return.”

“Ok, I’m sorry, but this was your idea. You asked for the truth about Vilde, and I gave you the truth about Vilde. Did you expect me to have a signed confession from her?”

Though Sana’s now realized her intuition isn’t exactly foolproof, at the time, she believed it was. It was obvious Eva and Vilde were close, not because they were roommates, but because of the way they laughed together. No, maybe Eva didn’t have a signed confession, but she surely had more information than she was sharing.

If she wouldn’t give that up, Sana could threaten Eva’s game in another way. “I should tell Vilde that you agreed to this deal,” Sana said. “Or about your secret coalition with Jonas?”

“With Jonas? I’m not—”

Sana only had to raise her eyebrows for Eva to drop the act.

“I can’t give you information I don’t have,” Eva said. “But, there is another way for us to work together.”

“I’m listening.”

“I know you have your own coalitions, but do you really want to split the money in the end?”

Sana shook her head, though truthfully, she wouldn’t mind that. Winning’s more appealing to her than money.

“Then use me as your scapegoat. Tell people we’re working together, but you’re using me, then make up shit about what I’ve told you. We can come up with the lies together so they’re consistent.”

“Like what?”

“Like, tell them I asked Jonas to leave his post to help me during the fort challenge.”

Sana narrowed her eyes. “Did you?”

Eva smiled. “No, but see what I mean? Half of this game is just confusing people until they don’t know what to believe.”

Sana agreed to it, but never followed through on it. She had threatened to reveal Eva’s actual secrets, so Eva gave her fake ones to distract people with instead. That’s suspicious in itself, and for her to say she was confusing people until they don’t know what to believe?

Well, it was working on Sana.

So, that leaves Sonja, Even, and Eva as her top suspects. But then again, she never did get more information on Vilde, and she’s only become more suspicious as time’s gone on. Though both her and Isak got their loved ones wrong, it was Vilde’s fault that they did—and really, shouldn’t that have been the easiest challenge? 

And then there’s Jonas, who still doesn’t say much, but did go along with the plan to sabotage the scavenger hunt. Maybe he’s always been quietly messing with things behind the scenes.

Or hell, it could still be Isak. He’s just a fucking liar.

Sana’s about to give up when there’s a knock at her door. She doesn’t say anything because her misery doesn’t love company, but then she hears the voice on the other side of the door.

“It’s just me.”

Yousef. Well, that's different. He's different.

“Sonja’s in Even’s room,” he continues. “So uh, I thought this would be a good time for us connect without her. Or just hang out. Whatever you want.”

Sana smiles. “Come in.”

Yousef does, studying the piles on her bed. “You look like the math lady meme,” he says.

Sana glares at him, but it’s hard for Yousef’s smile not to soften her edges. “I thought by this point in the game, I’d know who the mole is,” Sana says. “And I thought I did, but then—”

Well, she thought it was Yousef. She keeps that to herself, only continuing when Yousef says, “You know, I’m not great with cliffhangers; I’m a product of binge-watching culture. What changed?”

“Isak.”

“Right. So, was what he said true?”

Sana flinches; she was hoping they’d avoid this question. “About?”

Yousef shrugs. “Whatever you want to tell me.”

“I never really thought he was the mole.”

“But you thought I was? Or…am?”

Sana nods, resigned. “Not anymore, but for most of the game, yeah. But Yousef, I never gave you false information. I thought that if you knew my game completely, it would be easier to catch you trying to sabotage it. And the closer we were, the more likely you’d slip up around me—wait, why are you smiling?”

“Nothing, it’s just—no one’s ever accused me of something nefarious before. I feel like a cool guy, you know. A rebel.”

Sana laughs, relieved. “Oh, yeah. You’re real dangerous.”

“So, the scavenger hunt,” Yousef says. “I must’ve misunderstood your directions, because you wouldn’t give the wrong ones to the mole on purpose. Right?”

Sana could just say yes and stick to her story, but she’s lost Isak. All her notes are practically useless. And, she’s way less confident in her gut than she was at the beginning of the game.

She needs someone to trust, but she needs them to trust her as well. After all the damage she’s done, complete honesty is the only way to achieve that.

“I knew you weren’t the mole at that point,” Sana says. “We got an incentive to trick you guys into losing.”

“What kind of incentive?”

“The kind that’s worth 25,000 kroner?”

Yousef’s eyes go wide. “Oh.”

“I know. I’m sorry for lying to you, for letting you take the fall, for taking the money out of the winner’s pot. I’m just sorry.”

“Hey, it’s—I care about you more than I care about this game, Sana. You had to do what was right for yourself.”

Sana’s a bit surprised by that, just the word care. Not that it’s not nice to hear. “You’re a really good guy, Yousef.”

“I thought we established that I was a bad boy.”

Sana laughs. “Right. I guess your smile fooled me again.”

They smile at each other for a long time after that. It’s something they can both trust in.

---

When Mikael introduces the next challenge, Sana’s convinced the producers are making them up on the fly based on their conversations.

“The entire point of this game,” Mikael says. “Is that there’s someone you can’t trust. But, you can’t complete challenges without trusting people. You can’t even have conversations without that. So, what do you do? When do you risk trusting someone?”

Mikael pauses for long enough that Sana thinks he might expect an answer, but he eventually continues on. “For today’s challenge, I need you to pair off with someone you can trust.”

No one moves. By pairing off, they’re also revealing who they’re close to, and that’s valuable information in this game.

“We have two hours allotted for this challenge,” Mikael says. “If we run down the clock, you’ll not only not win any money, but we’ll deduct the amount you would’ve won from the winner’s pot. I won’t tell you the amount, so it’s up to you to decide if your secrets are worth it.”

“Well, they’re not to me,” Eva says. “But they might be to the people who already have 25,000 kroner for misleading us in the scavenger hunt challenge.”

Sana whips her head to look at her; Eva was not supposed to know that. Sana glances at Yousef, who quickly shakes his head, but tries not to maintain eye contact with her.

“How do you know that?” Vilde asks.

“I’d tell you, but I thought we were doing our own work from now on,” Eva says.

“Does everyone know?” Sonja asks.

“Guess we do now,” Yousef says, which means that even if he sold her out to Eva, he’s not selling her out now.

It might not have been him. Given Jonas is the only one unsurprised by the reveal, and the person closest to Eva—fuck, for someone who never talks, he always does so at the wrong time.

“I hate to rush drama,” Mikael says. “And I’m sure that revelation makes this more challenging, but I do need you to do choose someone you can trust.”

Fuck it. Sana steps towards Yousef; she does trust him, and she’s not letting the game’s twists interfere with that anymore.

Isak laughs. “Seriously? You might trust him, Sana, but I think he knows not to trust you.”

“That’s why it’s better if we work together,” Yousef says, usual sincerity gone from his voice. “I can watch what she’s doing.”

Maybe he is a bit nefarious.

The remaining teams are formed both reluctantly and randomly: Sonja and Jonas, Isak and Eva, Vilde and Even.  “Oh, yes,” Mikael says with a roll of his eyes. “These are definitely the teams the network had in mind for this challenge. Great job, guys.”

Mikael explains that one person on each team will have to complete a challenge with the other person guiding them through it. They won’t know what the challenge is until they’ve assigned those roles, and the person completing the challenge will be blindfolded for it. Each team that successfully completes the challenge will earn 25,000 for the winner’s pot.

Each team is separated so they won’t see the challenge until it’s their turn. Since Sana and Yousef were the first to pair up, they’re up first.

“Hey,” Yousef says once they’re alone. “I understand if you don’t believe me, but I didn’t tell Eva about your 25,000, I promise. I’ve barely talked to anyone since you told me.”

“I believe you.”

“Then we’re going to win this challenge.”

“Absolutely.”

Sana volunteers to do the challenge because, as she tells Yousef, she’s tougher than him. Yousef doesn’t argue with her. Once a producer’s fitted her with a blindfold, Yousef guides her to the challenge site.

Immediately, she hears a sharp, startling noise—almost like slicing. “If this is another cooking challenge,” Sana says. “I’m sorry, but I’m forfeiting.”

“Then I have good news?” Yousef says, though the tone of his voice suggests otherwise. “Your brother was here, right?”

“Yes.” Elias, her brother, is actually the reason Sana’s on the show. They’ve always watched it together, and Sana’s always claimed that she’s known who the mole is by the end of episode one. Elias dared her to apply for the show to prove herself.

It's not exactly going as planned. 

“Did you guys ever do stupid sibling stuff like, I don’t know—did he ever throw darts at you?”

“Someone is going to throw darts at me?”

“Well.”

Sana listens to the noise again, the slicing—it’s not a dart. It’s a fucking knife.

“Oh no,” Sana says. “I might trust you, but that doesn’t mean I trust whatever intern they’ve recruited to throw knives.”

“Ok, but listen to me. I would never, ever ask you to do something if I thought it would put you in danger. No matter how much money its worth. Do you believe me?”

Sana nods. She does.

“Alright,” Yousef says. “I promise it’s not some intern who doesn’t know what they’re doing. There’s no way you’re going to get hurt doing this.”

“Mistakes happen. Even if it’s a professional, there’s wind, and gravity, and my own reflexes--"

“I know, I know, but trust me, Sana. This is completely safe.”

Sana is brave. Really, really fucking brave. And she does trust Yousef, and she knows the show won’t risk her getting hurt because they won’t risk a lawsuit, but. It’s that noise, it’s her fight or flight, it’s her body saying you idiot, this is when you run.

Except, she can't actually move.

“I don’t think I can do it.”

“Sana, I understand—”

“No, Yousef. I can’t do it.”

There’s a beat, then Yousef says, “Ok. Whatever you’re comfortable with, that’s ok.”

He’s not mad, and Sana’s glad she’s chosen him to have faith in.

Yousef takes off the blindfold, revealing a board with multiple knives stuck in it. “I think I made the right choice,” Sana says.

“Can I tell her?” Yousef asks Mikael, who’s been watching the whole thing like it’s any other Tuesday.

Mikael says, “Of course,” like the rules of this game aren’t a mystery in themselves.

“They were going to fake it,” Yousef says. “And walk the knife over to the board, far away from you. No throwing at all. That’s why I said—I knew you’d be fine, Sana.”

Sana really is bad at this game. It’s the fucking mole. Nothing is as it seems.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “I just—it was my body. It wouldn’t move.”

“It’s ok. I probably would’ve run away screaming, so.”

Yousef smiles, and Sana laughs. While she wants to live in that happiness, as the other teams successfully complete the challenge with Jonas, Eva, and Even all following through on it, she feels like more of a disappointment.

“What a shock,” Isak says when they’re finished. “Sana stole another 25,000 from us.”

But whatever, let them think she’s the mole.

Yousef has faith in her, and that’s all that matters.

Chapter Text

Even’s having fun, but he could be having more.

He’s an actor, with a resume full of credits he’s not supposed to be proud of. Waiter 3 in his friend’s short film that has under 1,000 views on YouTube. Ensemble in a community theatre production that closed its two-week run early due to low ticket sales. Class Participant (Uncoordinated) in an ad for a local gym. Even listed each role on his application to this show, along with a ten-page essay on the art of sabotage, detailed descriptions of every murder mystery party he’s hosted, and a particularly good headshot.

So why the fuck wasn’t he cast as the mole?

Despite his frustration, Even understands television production enough to understand the choice. He looks like the villain. He acts like the villain. He’s the perfect red herring for his fellow players and the audience alike.

It’s just a bit boring.

At the beginning of the game, Even tried to fuck with it anyway. Why not? The more people who thought he was the mole, the more money he had the potential to earn, and the more fun he’d have. But when Sonja started to distance herself from him, and as he became confident in who the mole is, increasing the money in the winner’s pot became his priority.

Besides, he realized he could still fuck with the game by fucking with the mole’s plans.

After the trust challenge, Even glances at Isak, examining his cute, permanent scowl. He’s acting like he’s pissed that Sana lost the challenge, but Even’s an actor, so he knows better. Those were not the partnerships Isak wanted.

Once Yousef said he’d work with Sana to keep an eye on her, Isak’s eyes lit up in the same way they did when he claimed his journal entry. “We should all do that, then,” he said. “Everyone who was on the scavenger hunt should work with someone on the other side.” He proposed himself with Vilde, Even with Sonja, and Eva with Jonas.

“So none of us trust each other?” Even asked. “Is that a great strategy?”

And though Even didn’t say it because he’s smart enough to keep some shit to himself, Isak was the one who’d created the distrust he was trying to capitalize off of. Jonas (or, Even suspects, the producers) told Isak about the 25,000, then Isak told himself, Yousef, and Eva. And for what purpose? Why would he give anyone more information?

The others agreed with Even, and he volunteered to be the one to work with someone on the other side: Vilde. Whatever she asked him to do, he’d do it. He was familiar enough with television magic to know any death-defying scenario would only be reality-defying. That led Sonja to choose Jonas as a partner, with Isak and Eva leftover.

Though Isak got his way with Yousef and Sana working together, it was not his doing, and they still added 75,000 kroner to the winner’s pit. And he’s been bitter ever since.

Of course, Even suspected Isak long before this challenge. Isak played too hard in the beginning, breaking the most obvious rules, and he recognized that. He shifted his game from open sabotage to making everyone else appear untrustworthy, especially Sana. If he wasn’t the mole, he would not have openly betrayed her the way he did. Why would he willingly alienate someone he was getting information from? And while he’s still making mistakes in the game, they’re less obvious now. Even does not know what happened in the fort challenge, whether it was the fault of Jonas leaving his post, Isak and Vilde missing their shots, or something else entirely, but he knows Isak was in the perfect position to lose that challenge and make it look like an accident. Then there was the family visit, where he let Vilde fail the challenge for both of them.

Beyond all of that, Even just knows Isak now. They’re always talking, and the more they talk, the more Isak lets slip. He’s smart, smart enough not to be fucking up these challenges by accident, smart enough for production to put their trust in him. And he’s a liar, according to some of his stories from high school. Isak says he’s not proud of that version of himself, and Even believes that, but he also believes he’s still capable of being that person in a setting like this. Something about it doesn’t matter how many times a snake sheds its skin, it’s still a fucking snake.

Isak catches him looking, because Even’s been doing it for a long time now. Even smiles at him: his beautiful, evil genius.

Isak’s the mole. Even’s still falling in love with him, as he hopes Isak would if the roles were reversed. If this was where Isak chose to explore the greedy, deceitful side of himself, Even wasn’t too worried about it showing up in real life.

As Even and Yousef head back to their room for the night, Yousef recounts what happened in the challenge with Sana. “Maybe it was my fault, I don’t know,” he says. “Maybe she still doesn’t trust me enough, but I wasn’t going to pressure her to do it when she didn’t want to. I don’t like seeing her scared.”

Even elbows him, grinning. He quite enjoys his friendship with Yousef, even if he’s a bit too naïve to be useful as an ally. Yousef understand love in the same way that Even does.

“You’ll invite me to the wedding, right?” Even asks.

“As long as you’ll invite me to yours with Isak.”

Even will. And he’ll pay for it with the money from the winner’s pot.

Back in their room, Even finds his watch on his nightstand with a note beside it. The lettering’s cut up as though it were a ransom note.

You’re running out of time.

---

At the producers’ instruction, Even brings the note to breakfast.

He doesn’t want to; it’s a critical piece of evidence. While he’s sure production planted it since it appeared while they were all at the challenge, he knows it was at the mole’s instruction. The note proves that whoever changed his watch that first night is the mole, and Even knows that person was Isak. Why else would he have come up to Even’s room, knowing he’d meet Even in the bar a few minutes later? Sure, he played like he was desperate to kiss him for some bullshit reason, but Even knew exactly what Isak was doing when he put his hand on Even’s arm. That’s someone who knows the kind of power they have.

Lucky for Even, his fellow players aren’t quite astute enough to piece all of that together.

“It’s just creepy,” Eva says, adding a shudder for dramatic effect. “So unnecessary. What does it even tell us?”

“That the mole had something to do with Even’s watch?” Sonja offers.

“But we already knew that,” Jonas says.

“The note’s pointless,” Isak says. “But the gesture isn’t. Why do you think Even received it?”

Everyone’s quiet, including Even himself. He’s been pondering the same question all night.

Isak rolls his eyes, presumably at everyone else’s incompetence. “He gave it to himself,” Isak explains. “So now that we’re in the eleventh hour, people would rule him out as the mole.”

Isak keeps giving himself away. If he truly believed Even did that, he would not tell everyone that. But it’s a clever trick, to get the attention away from himself again.

Even puts on a smirk and leans back in his chair. “Yousef,” Even says. “Have you ever caught me engaged in an arts and crafts project?”

“Uh, no,” Yousef says.

“But you do like the dramatic,” Isak says.

“Oh, I do? Do you remember when you betrayed Sana in front of everyone? Or how about how you’re calling me out now? You love to make a scene, Isak.”

“Your point?”

Even has to watch himself. He doesn’t want everyone to think Isak’s the mole.

“I didn’t write the note,” Even says. “And I doubt you did, either. It’s too obvious of a move for the most dramatic ones here.”

“Or it’s very on brand,” Eva mumbles.

“It’s the quiet ones you need to worry about. Jonas, perhaps? Or Sonja?”

Jonas lets the comment go, but Sonja flinches. Even does not feel bad, not since she turned cold on him. He has no idea what happened: they had a successful coalition early on, but then she rejected all his plans and eventually stopped talking to him.

“Maybe I should tell everyone why they need to worry about you,” Sonja says.

“Go on,” Even says, gesturing for her to do so. “Apparently that’s the theme of the hour.”

“Even and I had a coalition,” she says, like a storyteller. “Our plan was to make everyone believe Even was the mole. But then, I learned he wasn’t the only one he had a coalition with.”

Even narrows his eyes. “Who tol--?”

“Yousef. Well, and Sana.”

Even glances over at them. Yousef looks sorry. Sana does not.

“And I realized that you were telling people,” Sonja continues. “To ensure that I looked like the mole and you did not.”

Even asks the question he wanted to ask Isak. “Why are you telling everyone now?”

“Because unlike you, I’m actually playing for the group.”

“Right, that’s why you took 25,000 kroner to sabotage a challenge. A real team player.”

Sonja doesn’t have a rebuttal for that, and it’s just as well. There’s no real benefit to getting caught up in these arguments. He can’t lose sight of Isak in the end game.

And apparently, Isak has the same idea, as he approaches Even when they’re dismissed from breakfast and told to go to their rooms.

“I’m coming to your room,” Isak says, as though the decision’s already made.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Yousef’s going to Sana’s.”

“And to what do I owe the pleasure, Isak?”

“I’m mad at you,” Isak says. “And I’m fucking stressed, and you’re distracting, so I just need—”

“To kiss me again?”

“Don’t get cocky. But, yeah. Obviously.”

Isak lets a smile slip. Even catches it and returns it. “I think we can arrange for that.”

However, once they they’re inside Even’s room, the lights turn off.

“Fuck,” Isak says, but Even’s more optimistic.

“It’s nice mood lighting.”

“I hate you.”

“Clearly.” Even tries the doorknob, but the door itself doesn’t budge. “I think we’re locked in. Man, I love this trope.”

“Trope?”

“You know, trapped in an elevator? Stuck at an airport? Snowed in? You’ll be in love with me by the end of this, Valtersen.”

Even can’t see Isak, but he can imagine the eye roll.

Without Mikael in the room, a producer explains the challenge. It’s essentially an escape room, though the clues they need are in Sana and Sonja’s room, and vice versa. They must communicate with one another to leave their respective rooms, and they only have 90 minutes to do it. If they’re successful, they’ll earn 150,000 kroner for the winner’s pot, which is no small prize. The other players have the same task, with Isak and Jonas’s room and Eva and Vilde’s room having the clues needed to help each other. They could earn 300,000 kroner from this task alone, bringing the winner’s pot to 635,000.

“If Jonas is alone in my room, we’re not going to see that 150,000,” Isak says. “And I’m stuck in a room with the mole. And I have to rely on Sana for information. We’re fucked.”

Of course, that would be the mole’s attitude towards this challenge.

“I’ll talk to Yousef,” Even says.

“You mean the guy who sold you out to Sonja?”

“That was probably Sana’s influence.”

“Fine, but you’re putting him on speaker.”

Even feels around for the phone, knowing it’ll be a challenge to dial in the dark. Fortunately, it rings before he has to. “Hello?” he says, complying with Isak’s request to put him on speaker.

“It’s me.” Yousef. “Listen, before we get into this, I’m sorry about earlier with Sonja. I just—”

“Didn’t trust me?”

“Can you blame me?”

“No. Is she in the room with you now?”

“No, Sana said she want to Vilde’s. What’s in your room?”

“I have no idea. It’s pitch black.”

“Shit, ok. We have your key.”

That feels….too easy. “Just like that?”

“Sana found it in the tissue box within like, two minutes. I guess she studied escape rooms before she came.”

Yousef relays that fact with a considerable amount of pride. Even has to call him on it. “Your dream woman.”

“I think so.”

Isak groans in the background. “Can you guys hurry up? Some of us aren’t trying to sabotage the challenge.”

“Oh by the way,” Even says. “You’re on speaker.”

“I figured,” Yousef says.

“Isak doesn’t trust me. Can’t imagine why.”

At that, Isak snatches the phone from Even’s hands.

“You have our key,” Isak says. “Do you have any idea how to get of your room?”

“We need a code, not a key,” Yousef says. “But that’s as much as we know. The only weird thing in the room is a stationary bike.”

“And you’re telling me Sana, who has studied escape rooms, didn’t think to ride it?”

“She found our key,” Even interjects. “Let’s be nice.”

Even hears Yousef ask Sana to ride the bike as he stays on the line with Isak. For a moment, nothing happens, and then—

Light.

“Ok,” Isak says. “We’ve got something.”

It’s not only light. It’s clues, Even presumes: the name of four Ontario cities are projected on the wall. Hamilton, Kingston, Windsor, Peterborough. Isak reads them to Yousef as Even searches the room for anything that might help them decipher this.

“The code we need is four numbers,” Yousef says.

“Maybe it’s the first letter of each city’s placement in the alphabet,” Isak says. “Like 8, 11, 23, 16?”

“I’ll get Sana to try it.”

They listen to that for a while, with Sana trying every possible combination of the four numbers. Eventually, Yousef informs them that’s not it. “We’re going to search the room some more,” he says. “You guys should do the same.”

“We need someone on the bike to keep the light on,” Isak reminds him.

“Then I’ll get on the bike while Sana searches the room. We’ll call you back.”

“Great,” Isak says once he hangs up. “Our fate is in Sana’s hands.”

“There could still be another clue in here,” Even says. “But I don’t see anything unusual.”

Isak helps him look, though Even’s sure to double-check every drawer he opens and garbage can he overturns. Isak could easily find a clue and hide it from him. Eventually, Isak catches on and says, “You’re wasting time.”

“I’m being thorough.”

And thanks to his due diligence, Even is confident when he declares there’s no other clues in their room. Isak agrees, and they’re left with only each other as they wait for the phone to ring.

Sitting together on Even’s bed, Isak says, “I don’t actually hate you.”

Even laughs. “I know, Isak.”

“I just wanted to say that because—well, you know.”

Even quirks his eyebrows to indicate that he does not.

“It’s our last night together,” Isak says.

And oh, that small detail. As much of a romantic as Even is, he’s not so naïve to believe they’ve had some grand love story here. They’ve talked a lot, and kissed even more, and lied to each other even more than that.

It’s not love, but it could be.

Even has so much fun with him, even when they’re on opposite sides. And when they talk, he understands that Isak’s a good listener, that they connect in a way Even’s really never experienced before.

Even brushes his thumb against Isak’s cheek, and it’s like he’s turning a dial to make Isak smile.

“It doesn’t have to be.”

The phone rings just as they’re leaning in.

Isak curses, but goes to answer it anyway. “Hey,” he says. “You find anything?”

“Actually, we did,” Yousef says. “There’s a guide book that Sana says has always been in this room, but each chapter is dedicated to a different city. We think the code is the chapter numbers for the cities on your wall. Sana’s trying the different combinations now.”

“If Sana doesn’t get it, make sure you try it too.”

“I’m smarter than that, Isak.”

Isak looks skeptical when he hangs up, and his suspicions are confirmed when Yousef calls back to say it didn’t work. Even suggests he tries the page numbers instead, but that’s not it either.

As the note Even received prophesied, they’re running out of time.

Looking for clues Even knows aren’t there, he processes the challenge. The only way Isak could have sabotaged it were if he found a clue and hid it, but Even ensured that didn’t happen. Maybe Isak realized he didn’t need to sabotage the challenge when it was clear they weren’t going to solve it. 

Still, for the first time in a while, Even has some doubt about who the mole is.

Once time’s up, Mikael lets them out of their rooms. “Lovebirds,” he says to them. “Please, tell me the two of you stuck in that room together made for good TV.”

“It’s us,” Even assures him. “Of course we did.”

With all of the players reunited, Mikael informs them that while Even, Isak, Yousef, and Sana lost the challenge, the other four won it. They also learn that Sonja was in Vilde’s room, while Eva was in Jonas’s.

“I’m shocked,” Vilde says at the news, though her tone suggests the opposite.

“It wasn’t even that hard,” Jonas says. “We finished with like, forty minutes left.”

“Well, we’re grateful for you guys,” Yousef says. “We just got stuck.”

“If you’ve been keeping track,” Mikael says. “Which I hope you have, otherwise you’ve really misunderstood this game, you’ve earned a total of 485,000 kroner for the winner’s pot. Congratulations.”

It’s more money than Even’s ever seen, but it’s not an obscene enough amount that he’s keen to share it. Knowing the prize, he’s more determined than ever to win.

“The only question now,” Mikael says. “Is whether or not the mole will claim that money. I suggest you study tonight, and I’ll see you in the morning for the vote.”

Even takes the advice.

He stays up late, poring through his journal. Everyone assumed his notes were shit because he also had a considerable number of doodles, but that’s not true at all. He’s been paying close attention, and he runs through every challenge, dissects each piece of information, analyzes every interaction—

Then he sits back, stunned at his own discoveries. The mole slipped up.

Even knows who it is.

Chapter Text

The mole is tired.

They’re not an actor. Their application did not suggest any inclinations towards sabotage. They are, in fact, the person who cringes when their shoulder is tapped while playing mafia.

But, as the mole now understands, that’s what this game does. If you volunteer for something, it’ll twist that thing until you’re fully outside of your comfort zone. They only went along with it because they need money, and being the mole at least guarantees a cut from production.

And now, they might win 485,000 kroner on top of that.

Maybe their fellow players are just better at the game than they are, but the mole does not think they’ve been found out. As accusations have flown at everyone else, some of which the mole instigated, they’ve remained somewhat under the radar.

Whatever the case, the mole is about to find out.

As though they’re about to vote, the mole goes into the confessional room. Mikael’s waiting for them, not looking surprised in the slightest.

“Did you know the whole time?” the mole asks.

“No,” Mikael says. “You just weren’t very good at it.”

---

In front of an audience, the players watch the voting confessionals.

Jonas is first. “I’m voting for Vilde,” he says. “She didn’t realize that by pointing out everyone else’s mistakes, she was drawing attention to her own.”

Sonja. “I’m voting for Even. He tried to use me as his cover story, but I have my own narrative.”

Eva. “I’m voting for Jonas. He’s the worst liar here, which is kind of impressive.”

Isak. “I’m voting for Sana. She’s the only person here almost as smart as I am.”

Vilde. “I’m voting for Isak. He is completely incompetent.”

Sana. “I’m voting for Eva. She wanted to confuse me, and in doing so, she indicted herself.”

Even. “I’m voting for Yousef. Because I never told him about my coalition with Sonja.”

Yousef frowns. He was close.

He checks Sana’s expression fist: as hard as she tries to be unreadable, Yousef always catches her mood before she can hide it. She’s surprised, definitely. Pissed, maybe. He just hopes she’s not disappointed in him. He doesn’t think he can stomach that.

There’s a variety of other reactions, with people like Isak mumbling I knew it despite not voting for him, and others like Vilde letting themselves gasp. Even squeezes Yousef’s shoulder, and the message is clear: nice work, but I still won.

“Yousef,” Mikael says. “How are you feeling now? Frustrated? Relieved?”

“I don’t know, to be honest,” Yousef says. “I mean, I wanted to win, but I’m glad it’s over. I don’t think anyone can understand what it’s like to play as the mole unless they do it themselves.”

“Because it’s a lot of work?”

“No, because these people become your friends. There were times I wanted them to win the money. You just feel guilty.”

Yousef glances at Sana, and Mikael catches it like the professional he is. “Sana,” he says. “What’s your reaction to this? Are you sympathetic to how hard it is to be the saboteur?”

“No,” she says. “It’s always harder to be the person who’s manipulated. But I’m not—I can’t fault Yousef for playing the game we all signed up for.”

Yousef exhales so loudly the audience laughs. Mikael gestures for him to speak. “I told Sana a few days ago that I cared about her more than I care about the game,” Yousef says.

“Yes, yes, we know,” Mikael says. “We advertised the moment for weeks.”

“Anyway, that wasn’t a lie. I just don’t want her to hate me.”

“I don’t,” Sana says. “I just—I knew it was you. I hate myself for changing my mind.”

“In a way, Yousef hid in plain sight around you,” Mikael says, gesturing to the screen. It shows a montage of their time together: in the cooking challenge, Yousef agreed to splitting up and doubling back. In the scavenger hunt challenge, Yousef listens to her directions despite having a tip from production that they were wrong. In the trust challenge, he doesn’t push her to complete it. In the escape room challenge, he doesn’t put Isak and Even on speaker phone, and tells Sana the wrong cities: Hampton, Kitchener, Waterloo, Pickering.

It shows him accusing Sonja after she suggested that Jonas and Mikael might know each other, because Yousef knew that Mikael didn’t know it was him. It shows him accusing Even for everything Yousef did to make him look suspicious. It ends on one of his confessionals, meant to trick the audience: “The problem with Sana’s game is that she is too smart to trust in the obvious.”

“Well played,” Sana says, and Yousef takes the compliment instead of acknowledging the truth. His success was dependent on Sana’s mistakes, but he knows that pointing that out won’t end well for him.

“And you would’ve gotten away with it, too,” Mikael says. “If it wasn’t for your meddling roommate. Even, how did you figure it out?”

“I said it when I voted,” Even says. “I was loyal to my coalition with Sonja. I didn’t tell anyone about it. So, when Sonja said that Yousef sold me out, I realized the only way he could’ve done that was if the producers tipped him off.”

He’s right. Yousef was too careless in how he used that information.

“But how did you know Sonja wasn’t just making it up to throw Yousef under the bus?” Mikael asks.

“I didn’t, but I thought about the rest of the game. He had the most opportunity to change my watch. At first, I thought it was too obvious for it to be him, but that’s kind of the brilliance of it. And the fort challenge, I didn’t see it happen, but everyone kept talking about how Jonas left his post and Isak and Vilde missed their shots. But, Sana had told us the opposition was coming towards Eva’s and Yousef’s entrances, and I realized Yousef must’ve fucked up too.”

“I did,” Yousef says. “I got a tip from production before the challenge started that Eva asked Jonas to leave his post to help her. I met with the opposition, and we agreed they’d try for my entrance first, just so I could look like I at least tried to stop them. Then, they’d get in through Eva’s. I got production to give Isak a faulty gun, and I knew Vilde would be too worked up to make her shot.”

“And in the maze,” Isak says. “You gave me a faulty earpiece.”

“Yeah,” Yousef says. “You were the first person to fuck up, without my intervention. I figured you’d be a good scapegoat.”

“That very first challenge,” Eva says. “You stalled us. Why didn’t you just run the clock out?”

“Because it was the very first challenge,” Yousef says. “I stalled long enough that there was a chance you and Jonas wouldn’t make it back in time, but not so long that it was obvious. I was still figuring my own strategy out. I don’t think I ever perfected it.”

“Well, clearly not,” Mikael says, with a distinct lack of grace. “Since you lost.”

“Thanks for that.”

“Was there anything you didn’t sabotage?” Sonja asks.

“The loved one visit,” Yousef says. “I didn’t have the heart for it.”

“Stand-up guy,” Jonas says, a solid layer of sarcasm undermining the sentiment.

“From our perspective,” Mikael says. “We wanted him to be a worse person. We chose the nice guy because it’s unexpected, but he’s too nice of a guy.”

Yousef really should have done more research on the show before he applied.

“So, Even,” Mikael says. “What are you going to do with your winnings?”

“Take Isak out, of course,” Even says with a grin. “And maybe buy Yousef a beer as a consolation prize.”

“I appreciate that,” Yousef says.

“Yousef, any final thoughts?” Mikael says. “Did you enjoy this experience? Or do you regret it?”

For the first time all game, Yousef tells the complete truth.

“It was all worth it to meet Sana.”